The Public Cools on ICE
Our most recent book is
The Comeback: The 2024 Elections and American Politics.
The second Trump administration has been full of
ominous developments.
GOP consultant Rob Stutzman: " Really is stunning that Trump Admin has taken their greatest asset, immigration enforcement, and turned into a negative with performative BS that Americans have grown weary of."
In the days since Renee Nicole Good was shot and killed in Minneapolis by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent, federal officials have argued that Good’s death was “a tragedy of her own making,” as Vice President JD Vance put it.
"The woman driving the car was very disorderly, obstructing and resisting,” President Trump claimed on social media. “Then [she] violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer, who seems to have shot her in self defense.”
But most Americans disagree, according to a new Yahoo/YouGov poll.
The survey of 1,709 U.S. adults, which was conducted from Jan. 8 to Jan. 12, finds that only slightly more than a quarter (27%) think last week’s shooting was “justified.” Nearly twice as many Americans — a 52% majority — say the shooting was not justified.
Days after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent fatally shot a Minneapolis woman in an incident that was captured on video, voters 82 - 18 percent say they have seen a video of the shooting and a majority (53 percent) think the shooting was not justified, 35 percent think it was justified, and 12 percent did not offer an opinion, according to a Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pea-ack) University national poll of registered voters released today.
There are differences based on political party and gender.
Republicans (77 - 10 percent) think the shooting was justified, while Democrats (92 - 4 percent) and independents (59 - 28 percent) think the shooting was not justified.
Men are divided with 42 percent thinking the shooting was justified, while 44 percent of men think the shooting was not justified. Thirty percent of women think the shooting was justified, while 61 percent of women think the shooting was not justified.
"More than eight in ten American voters say they've seen the video. But should the shooting have happened? The majority say the shots should not have been fired by the ICE agent, while more than one third believe the shooting was justified,"said Quinnipiac University Polling Analyst Tim Malloy.
Forty percent of voters approve of the way U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, is enforcing immigration laws, while 57 percent disapprove. This is largely unchanged since Quinnipiac University's July 16, 2025 poll.
In today's poll, Republicans (84 - 12 percent) approve of the way ICE is enforcing immigration laws, while Democrats (94 - 4 percent) and independents (64 - 33 percent) disapprove.
Thirty-six percent of voters approve of the way Kristi Noem is handling her job as Secretary of Homeland Security, while 52 percent disapprove, and 12 percent did not offer an opinion.
In Quinnipiac University's July 16, 2025 poll, 39 percent approved, 50 percent disapproved, and 11 percent did not offer an opinion.
In today's poll, Republicans (77 - 12 percent) approve of the way Noem is handling her job as Secretary of Homeland Security, while Democrats (85 - 4 percent) and independents (57 - 30 percent) disapprove.
1,133 self-identified registered voters nationwide were surveyed from January 8th - 12th with a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percentage points, including the design effect.
