New Delhi: Up to 72 percent of Republicans hold favourable views of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), an agency under the Department of Homeland Security, while only 13 percent of Democrats view it positively, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.
The polarisation comes amid US President Donald Trump’s crackdown on illegal immigration. In April, the ICE had announced the arrest of more than 66,000 “illegal aliens” and removal of more than 65,000 “aliens”. Three in four arrests were “criminal illegal aliens,” it stated. Los Angeles witnessed fierce protests in June after ICE agents raided several locations in the city to arrest alleged illegal immigrants.
The Pew report—titled “Republicans’ Views of Justice Department, FBI Rebound as Democrats’ Views Shift More Negative” and released Wednesday—states that of 16 federal agencies asked about in the survey, Americans view 13 more favourably than unfavourably.
The survey took responses from 3,554 adults from 4-10 August in online mode.
It also notes that Republicans’ views of several key departments have grown considerably more positive than they were a year ago, while Democratic views of these agencies have shifted in the opposite direction in the period.
According to the survey, 51 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning people now view the Department of Justice (DOJ) more positively, up 18 percentage points from last year, while Democrats move in the opposite direction, with 28 percent viewing the DOJ favourably, down 27 percentage points from last year.
Partisans’ views on the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), a component agency of the DOJ, show a similar shift. The FBI is now headed by Kash Patel, a key Trump aide, who in his 2023 book titled Government Gangsters called the agency “thoroughly compromised”, a sentiment shared by pro-Trump hardliners until his second term.
Overall, 39 percent of Americans view the DOJ positively, compared to 43 percent last year, while 46 percent view the agency negatively, up two percentage points from last year.
Americans’ views on the Department of Homeland Security are similarly polarised and show the same shifting trend from last year. As many as 68 percent of Republicans view it positively, compared to only 26 percent of Democrats.
Republicans are also now more likely to view the US State Department positively, with 57 percent holding a favourable view. Among Democrats, 37 percent hold favourable views and 39 percent unfavourable.
Republican voters also view the Health Department more positively than before, up 18 percentage points from last year, with Trump ally Robert F. Kennedy heading it. He popularised the slogan “Make America Healthy Again”, or MAHA, and has attracted controversy after linking vaccines with autism. Conversely, Democrats views go in the opposite direction, down 21 percentage points from last year.
Republicans, however, continued to hold more negative than positive views of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, with 40 percent favourable and 49 percent unfavourable. On the other side, 69 percent of Democrats saw the CDC favourably.
According to the survey, many other agencies have drawn positive ratings regardless of political views, with National Park Service and National Weather Service ranking the highest. As many as 76 percent of Americans view both agencies favourably.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the Social Security Administration, and the Department of Veterans Affairs were also viewed positively across the political spectrum.
Saksham Thakur is a TPSJ alum currently interning with ThePrint
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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