New polling from key battleground states is delivering a message Washington can’t easily ignore: voters overwhelmingly support removing criminal illegal aliens from the country — and they’re backing President Trump’s renewed push to enforce immigration law.
A survey conducted by Public Opinion Strategies of 1,100 likely voters across major 2026 swing states — including Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Carolina, Texas, Iowa, Maine, and New Hampshire — found a staggering 79% believe illegal aliens convicted of crimes should be deported. Only 13% said those individuals should be allowed to remain in the United States.
That margin isn’t a narrow partisan split. According to polling partner Gene Ulm, support for deporting criminal illegal aliens cuts across every demographic group tested.
“This is a broad consensus viewpoint,” Ulm wrote in a memo accompanying the findings. “No voter group tested in this survey believes that illegal immigrants convicted of a crime should remain in the United States.”
In an era when Americans are told the country is hopelessly divided, immigration enforcement appears to be one of the few issues where voters are sending a remarkably unified signal: public safety comes first.
The survey also sheds light on what Americans want immigration enforcement to prioritize. Voters ranked human trafficking (26%) and criminal organizations/public safety threats (23%) as the top targets. Drug smugglers, employers who knowingly hire illegal workers, and visa overstays ranked far lower. Another 34% said enforcement should focus on all of the above — a sign that voters are not interested in half-measures.
These results mirror findings from other recent national polls. A Harvard CAPS–Harris survey of 2,000 registered voters found 73% support deporting violent illegal aliens, while 52% support deporting all illegal immigrants, regardless of criminal history. Notably, nearly half of independents backed broad deportation enforcement — a warning sign for Democrats hoping to frame the issue as fringe or extreme.
Even polling that shows discomfort with certain enforcement optics doesn’t erase the underlying support for the policy itself. A Siena College/New York Times survey found 50% of respondents support the Trump administration’s deportation efforts overall. Meanwhile, a Marquette poll released February 4 reported 56% of American adults favor deporting illegal migrants, compared to 44% opposed.
Critics have tried to shift the conversation toward isolated incidents and emotional narratives, particularly around enforcement actions in Minneapolis. But the polling suggests voters are distinguishing between tactics and principle. While some respondents expressed concern about how operations are carried out, the core belief that immigration law should be enforced remains intact.
That distinction matters politically. Voters appear to be saying they want professionalism and accountability — not abandonment of enforcement altogether.
The data lands at a critical moment as the Trump administration doubles down on border security and interior enforcement after years of lax federal policy. For supporters, the numbers confirm what they’ve argued all along: immigration enforcement is not radical — it’s mainstream.
In swing states that will decide the next election cycle, nearly four out of five voters agree on at least one point: if someone enters the country illegally and commits a crime, they shouldn’t stay. In today’s political climate, that level of agreement is rare — and impossible for either party to ignore.
