Most voters against eliminating ICE: poll

Most voters support keeping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) intact amid calls from some prominent Democrats to eliminate the agency, a poll released Wednesday found.

The Politico/Morning Consult poll showed that 54 percent of voters are in favor of keeping ICE, while 25 percent support the government abolishing it. Another 21 percent of voters are undecided on the issue.

Responses split sharply along partisan lines, the poll found. Forty-three percent of Democratic voters want the government to get rid of ICE, compared to 34 percent who prefer to keep it.

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A plurality of Democrats — 40 percent — said they would be somewhat or much more likely to vote for a candidate if they supported abolishing ICE, according to poll. Twenty-one percent said they’d be less likely to vote for that candidate.

Among Republicans, 79 percent of voters favor keeping ICE, while 54 percent of independents feel the same way, according to the poll.

Those groups indicated they would be less likely to support a candidate who called for ICE’s elimination. Among Republicans, 61 percent of voters said they would be less likely to support a candidate with that view, while 41 percent of independents said the same, according to the poll.

The poll was conducted from July 6-10, and surveyed 1,999 registered voters. It has a margin of error of 2 percentage points.

A relatively small but growing number of Democrats has in recent weeks voiced support for abolishing ICE, which has been at the forefront of the Trump administration’s ongoing crackdown on illegal immigration.

A number of presidential hopefuls in the Democratic Party — including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Kamala Harris (Calif.) — have all said they support abolishing ICE. Other Democrats have been skeptical of the idea, saying some entity is required to enforce immigration laws.

President Trump has seized on the issue, saying those who oppose the agency support “anarchy.” He has fiercely defended ICE, and suggested Democrats will suffer in the midterm elections if they continue to call for an end to the agency.