Amid storm of protests, slim majority favors Trump’s approach to immigration: poll

Despite weekend protests that swept the country and recent rioting that dogged Los Angeles, a slim majority of voters still favor President Trump’s handling of immigration, a new poll found.

Although nearly tied, Trump notched a 51% approval to 49% disapproval rating for his performance on border security and immigration issues, an NBC News Decision Desk survey found.

Earlier this month, riots broke out in Los Angeles after US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted operations in the country’s second-largest city. That prompted Trump to federalize and deploy California’s National Guard.

Then, this weekend, progressive groups orchestrated national protests, fueled by the Army’s 250th anniversary parade, though immigration dominated many of those demonstrations.

Last week, Trump teased plans to recalibrate his immigration approach and concentrate on deporting criminals rather than service workers who are residing in the country illegally.

Immigration remains Trump’s strongest issue, according to the poll. His overall approval rating clocked in at 45% approve to 55% disapprove, which mirrors the outlet’s findings in April.

The poll also pegged internal Republican divisions over the precise goal of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, mirroring some of the internal friction within the congressional GOP.

In a near tie, 40% of respondents wanted the emphasis to be on “ensuring that the national debt is reduced,” while 39% wanted to focus on tax reduction and 21% prioritized maintaining current spending levels on Medicaid, the poll found.

A majority of both Independents (53%) and Democrats (79%) wanted the emphasis to be on maintaining Medicaid levels.

Overall, the House-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would raise the national deficit by $3 trillion over the next decade, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.

The measure slashes spending, primarily on Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), by a net $1.25 trillion as an offset to the tax cuts.

Several fiscal hawks in the Senate, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), Rick Scott (R-Fla.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) have pushed for more cuts.

Concern about the legislative bundle’s impact on the deficit led to a scorched-earth tirade from tech mogul Elon Musk against President Trump earlier this month.

The House-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act slaps work requirements onto Medicaid, which provides health insurance to over 70 million low-income Americans.

Coupled with other modifications to Medicaid, Republicans are eyeing around $700 billion in savings from the program over a 10-year period. Upwards of 7.8 million Americans could lose their health insurance due to the reforms, the Congressional Budget Office has projected.

The Medicaid provisions have proven to be a sticking point for Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and have drawn scrutiny from Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) and Susan Collins (R-Maine) as the Senate GOP mulls the mammoth bill.

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is intended to be Trump’s signature legislative achievement.

GOP leadership is hoping to get the megabill to Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July, though that timeframe looks increasingly tough to achieve.

This week, key Senate committees are set to unveil revised versions of the bill. After it clears the Senate, it will need to go back through the House before it can get to Trump’s desk.

The NBC News Decision Desk Poll sampled 19,410 adults between May 30 and June 10 with a margin of error of plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.