Pew Research: Two-Thirds of Trump Voters Want Illegal Migrants Deported

A new survey by Pew Research Center of 8,709 adults finds nearly two-thirds of former President Donald Trump's backers (63%) support a national effort to deport all those in the country illegally, compared with just 11% of President Joe Biden's supporters.

By contrast, Biden's supporters overwhelmingly (85%) say undocumented immigrants should be eligible to stay legally if certain requirements are met, including 56% who say this should include a path to applying for citizenship. About a third of Trump's supporters (32%) say undocumented immigrants should be eligible for legal status, including just 15% saying there should be a way for them to apply for citizenship.

The Pew Research Center survey of 8,709 adults, including 7,166 registered voters, was conducted April 8-14, 2024, and examined the political values of the Biden and Trump coalitions on a variety of issues, including immigration, crime, abortion rights, same-sex marriage, gender, and religion.

Among Pew's findings, Trump voters (81%) are about twice as likely as Biden voters (40%) to say the criminal justice system is not tough enough on criminals.

Overwhelming majorities of Biden and Trump supporters say it is extremely or very important for police and law enforcement to keep communities safe and to treat people of all racial and ethnic groups equally.

Roughly 8 in 10 Biden supporters (83%) say the increase in guns in the U.S. is at least somewhat bad for society and those voters prioritize gun control by wide margins. Relatively few Trump supporters (21%) view the growing number of guns negatively; more say it is a good thing for society (40%) or neither bad nor good (38%).

Since the Supreme Court’s 2022 decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which guaranteed a right to abortion, support for legal abortion has ticked up in both parties, according to Pew, which says that 88% of Biden supporters say abortion should be legal in all or most cases; 38% of Trump supporters say the same.

By contrast, a majority of voters overwhelmingly say the wide availability of birth control pills, condoms, and other forms of contraception is good for society.

On the topic of gay marriage, Biden supporters are about five times as likely (57%) as Trump supporters (11%) to say legalization of same-sex marriage is good for society.

Nearly all Trump supporters (90%) say gender is determined by sex at birth. By contrast, Biden supporters are more divided. About 6-in-10 (59%) say gender can be different from sex at birth; 39% say gender is determined by sex at birth.

Just 20% of Trump supporters say they are comfortable with someone using “they/them” instead of “he” or “she” to describe themselves. More than three times as many Biden supporters (66%) — including 79% of Biden supporters under age 50 — say they are comfortable with the use of these gender-neutral pronouns.

Roughly three times as many Trump supporters as Biden supporters say society is better if people prioritize marriage and family (59% vs. 19%).

Seventy-three percent of all voters — including majorities of Biden (83%) and Trump supporters (64%) — say access to in vitro fertilization (IVF) is a good thing.

A large majority of voters (71%) believe that religion should be “kept separate from government policies”; just 28% say government policies should support religious values and beliefs. Larger shares of Trump supporters than Biden supporters say religion — and particularly the Bible — should have influence on government policy.

Eighty-two percent of Biden voters say diversity strengthens society and 4% say it weakens it; this contrasts with about half (49%) of Trump voters who say diversity strengthens American society, while 19% say it weakens it.

There is a wide gap between Biden and Trump voters in comfort with people speaking a language other than English in public places in their communities. More than 8-in-10 Biden supporters (83%) are comfortable hearing languages other than English, compared with a narrow majority of Trump supporters (54%).

The Pew Research Center report was conducted from April 8 to April 14, 2024, with a total of 8,709 panelists responded out of 9,527 who were sampled, for a response rate of 91%. The margin of sampling error for the full sample of 8,709 respondents is plus or minus 1.5 percentage points.