A majority of Hispanic voters support former President Donald Trump’s Title 42 immigration policy that makes it easier for the federal government to deport border crossers and illegal aliens, according to an Axios-Ipsos poll released Thursday.
Axios found that 51 percent of Hispanic Americans support keeping Title 42 in place. On the other hand, just 44 percent are opposed to the policy.
“I think because it’s a COVID mitigation thing, we do see sort of higher support for it, than if it were just sort of a pure immigration concern,” Ipsos pollster and senior vice president Chris Jackson told Axios. Jackson was reportedly “surprised” that most Hispanics supported Title 42.
These poll numbers come as President Joe Biden’s administration is in a legal dispute over the pandemic-era immigration policy. After Biden announced the program would end in May, 21 states sued the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), alleging Biden unlawfully terminated the program.
A federal judge ordered Biden to keep Title 42 in place as a result of the lawsuit.
A majority of Mexican Americans, Puerto Ricans, and Cuban Americans support keeping Title 42 in place, according to the poll. However, just 41 percent of Central Americans support the policy.
The poll also found that 58 percent of second-generation Hispanics and 59 percent of third-generation Hispanics support the policy.
Unsurprisingly, Hispanic Democrats disapproved of the policy more than Hispanic Republicans, but interestingly, 57 percent of Hispanic independents support Title 42.
Axios also determined that Democrats are losing support to Republicans among Hispanic Americans.
As Axios reported:
Twenty-nine percent of Latino Americans say they would vote for a Democratic candidate if the midterm elections were held today, compared to just 17% who say they would vote for a Republican candidate. While this lead is substantial, it represents a 4-point decline from December.
Hispanics also trust Republicans to handle the economy better than Democrats, by a seven-point margin, according to the poll.
The Axios-Ipsos poll surveyed 1,018 Hispanic adults with the help of Telemundo from June 9 to June 18.
The poll has a margin of error of ± 3.7 percent.