Breaking News
Trump’s approval rating hits new low as immigration backlash grows and ICE withdraws from Minnesota
As Americans increasingly reject his administration’s aggressive immigration policies, President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to match its lowest level ever, according to a new Yahoo/YouGov poll.
The survey of 1,704 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Feb. 9 to 12, finds that just 38% now approve of the way Trump is handling his job as president (down from 40% last month). That number had slipped to 38% in only one previous Yahoo/YouGov poll — at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in July 2020. It has never been lower.
Meanwhile, the president’s disapproval rating has risen to 58% (up from 56% last month). That’s also a new high.
The trend is clear. When Trump first returned to office early last year, his average approval rating was higher than his average disapproval rating. The two lines crossed in March 2025. Since then, the president has sunk from six points “underwater” in the April 2025 Yahoo/YouGov survey to 20 points underwater today.
In comparison, former President Joe Biden was about 8 points underwater at this stage of his presidency. And Trump was about 13 points underwater at this point in his first term.
Immigration policy used to help Trump. Now it’s hurting him.
Public backlash to Trump’s aggressive immigration crackdown in major U.S. cities — especially Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, during which federal immigration agents shot and killed two American citizens — appears to be a major driver of his declining poll numbers.
On Thursday, White House border czar Tom Homan announced that “Operation Metro Surge is ending” because new and “unprecedented cooperation” from local law enforcement had finally helped the administration achieve the “successful results we … came here for.”
“In the next week, we’re going to deploy the officers here on detail back to their home stations or other areas of the country [that] are needed,” Homan continued. “The Twin Cities and Minnesota in general are and will continue to be much safer for the communities here because of what we have accomplished.”
Yet Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz insisted on Thursday that “nothing has changed” in terms of state policy, telling reporters that the administration simply wanted to “save face” and leave before the backlash got even worse.
“My take was they knew they needed to get out of here,” Walz speculated. “But in very Trumpian fashion, they needed to save face.”
The new Yahoo/YouGov poll reveals just how deep the shift in public opinion has been:
Already net negative in January (39% favorable, 54% unfavorable), ratings of ICE fell further over the past month (to 37% favorable, 58% unfavorable).
Since September, the percentage of Americans who rate ICE “very” unfavorably has grown 11 percentage points (from 37% to 48%).
53% of Americans now disapprove of ICE’s “large-scale deportation raids in major U.S. cities”; just 33% approve. Last month, those numbers were 51% and 37%, respectively.
57% of Americans now say the “ICE raids in major U.S. cities have done more harm than good,” up 3 points since last month. Only 33% say the raids do more good than harm.
58% of Americans say the ICE raids in major U.S. cities have gone too far. Less than a third say they’ve been about right (20%) or not gone far enough (12%).
A majority of Americans (53%) say the Trump administration has “mostly lied” about what’s happening with the ICE raids; 32% say the administration has mostly told the truth.
Similar majorities also say the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti (55%) and Renee Good (53%) were not justified and that the agents who killed them were acting “recklessly.” Few believe the administration’s claims that Pretti (19%) and Good (27%) were “trying to kill federal agents” who were then forced to respond in “self defense.”
Most Americans (51%) also say ICE is making America less safe; 36% say ICE is making America safer.
And only 32% of Americans say ICE is mostly deporting “dangerous criminals.” Far more (48%) say it is mostly deporting “people who deserve a chance to stay in the U.S.”
Immigration remains a big issue. But Americans want a different approach.
Americans still have concerns about who is entering the country. Looking back over the history of the country, most U.S. adults think immigration has made America better (54%) rather than worse (21%). But when they’re asked how immigration is affecting America today, more say it’s making the country worse (38%) rather than better (33%).
The problem for Trump is that a clear majority of Americans want their leaders in Washington, D.C., to handle immigration in a different way.
Only 27%, for instance, agree that the federal government should “round up and deport as many undocumented immigrants as possible, regardless of whether they’ve committed other crimes.” More than twice as many (60%) say the government should “deport undocumented immigrants who have committed crimes since arriving in the U.S., but create a pathway to citizenship for those who have otherwise obeyed the law.”
As opposed to deportation, Americans would rather see the federal government provide a pathway to citizenship to immigrants in the following categories:
People who have committed lesser infractions in the U.S., such as traffic violations: 52% provide pathway to citizenship; 29% deport
People with expired immigrant visas: 45% provide a pathway to citizenship; 38% deport
People who have applied for legal status (such as asylum) in accordance with current law: 71% pathway to citizenship; 11% deport
People whose children are U.S. citizens: 68% provide pathway to citizenship; 19% deport
People who were brought to the U.S. as children by their parents: 67% provide pathway to citizenship; 18% deport
The public only favors deportation in two instances: for people who have just crossed the border and been caught (57%) and for people who have committed serious or violent crimes in the U.S. (87%).
According to an internal Department of Homeland Security document obtained by CBS News, less than 14% of the nearly 400,000 immigrants arrested by ICE in Trump’s first year back in the White House had charges or convictions for violent criminal offenses.
Similarly, the number of Americans who say undocumented immigrants should be “allowed to stay in their homes” while their cases are being decided (a 56% majority) is more than double the number who say they should be “sent to detention centers” (26%).
The Washington Post reported on Friday that ICE is planning to spend $38.3 billion — more than 22 states’ total annual spending — converting two dozen warehouses across the country into detention centers meant to hold up to 96,000 immigrants at a time, in total.
In the U.S. Senate, Democrats have refused to support long-term funding for the Department of Homeland Security unless Republicans agree to reform the way federal immigration agents operate.
The Yahoo/YouGov poll asked Americans about five of these proposed reforms, and all five receive majority support — ranging from 89% approve, 4% disapprove for requiring “agents to wear body cameras during enforcement operations” to 55% approve, 32% disapprove for prohibiting “agents from wearing masks or other face coverings during enforcement operations.”
Will Trump change course?
Trump’s numbers could worsen if he continues to pursue unpopular policies.
In March 2025, Trump’s job rating on immigration was net positive: 48% approve to 44% disapprove. Now it’s more negative than it’s ever been: 41% approve to 55% disapprove.
Back then, the number of Americans who said the president was focused on the country’s most important issues (43%) was roughly the same as the number who said he was focused on issues that weren’t very important (45%).
But today, 55% of Americans say Trump is focused on unimportant issues, while just 35% say the opposite.
The president also faces a widening gap in the intensity of opinion between Americans who think he’s doing a good job and Americans who think he’s doing a bad job. A full 49% now “strongly” disapprove of Trump’s job performance; just 22% strongly approve. On immigration, those numbers are similar: 46% strongly disapprove to 28% strongly approve.