Americans’ opinions on Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are markedly polarizing and heavily dependent on party, a survey released by Pew Research Center on Tuesday reveals.
The national survey, conducted among 1,007 adults on July 11-15, revealed that, in general, adults view most federal agencies favorably.
Among the agencies the respondents were asked about, the majority of adults view these agencies favorably:
- The National Park Service, 83%
- The Census Bureau, 69%
- The FBI, 65%
- The CIA, 61%
- The Department of Health and Human Services, 60%
- The Department of Justice, 58%
- The IRS, 57%
- The Environmental Protection Agency, 54%
However, the only agency that wasn’t viewed favorably by a majority of respondents was ICE, which was viewed 47 percent unfavorably compared to 44 percent favorably.
Republicans and Democrats have diametrically opposing views on this agency, Pew notes, with the differences especially drastic when comparing liberal Democrats to conservative Republicans.
The same percentage of Republicans, 72 percent, view ICE favorably and 72 percent of Democrats view ICE unfavorably.
In other words, 72 percent of Democrats view ICE negatively, compared to 21 percent of Republicans.
Only 20 percent of Democrats in this survey view ICE favorably.
“The differences are particularly stark between conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats,” the study says, and the numbers show a large difference of opinion on ICE between those farther on the left and those farther on the right.
Over eight in 10 liberal Democrats, 82 percent, view ICE unfavorably, with 53 percent of those viewing ICE very unfavorably.
These numbers compare to conservative Republicans, where 77 percent view ICE positively, and 40 percent of that view ICE very positively.
Americans’ opinions about Immigration and Customs Enforcement are deeply polarized: 72% of Republicans view ICE favorably, while an identical share of Democrats view it unfavorably https://t.co/futnnyceXw pic.twitter.com/VE6t7GQ4ux
— Pew Research Center (@pewresearch) July 24, 2018
This poll, which had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points, comes as a wave of key Democratic lawmakers call to abolish ICE, the agency responsible for protecting the country from cross-border crime and illegal immigration that threatens the national security and safety of U.S. citizens.
Democratic congressmen and congresswomen who have made the call include Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan, Massachusetts Rep. Jim McGovern, Oregon Rep. Earl Blumenauer, Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, among others. (RELATED: 34 Democrats, 1 Republican Vote ‘No’ On Resolution To Support ICE)
However, as a cohort of Democratic candidates similarly continue to campaign on such a platform, a Rasmussen poll released on July 5 shows that a majority of Americans do not want ICE abolished.
According to the online survey, 55 percent of respondents oppose abolishing the agency, while only 25 percent support the idea of eradicating it completely.
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