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Poll: 58 percent of voters disapprove of how Trump is handling immigration

The poll also found that the majority of voters think the president has 'emboldened' racist people.
Credit: Pool
United States President Donald J. Trump participates in a meeting with the Prime Minster of The Netherlands, Mark Rutte, at The White House in Washington, DC, July 2, 2018. Credit: Chris Kleponis / Abaca

Fifty-eight percent of American voters disapprove of the way President Trump is handling immigration, according to a new Quinnipiac poll published Tuesday.

When asked to describe the administration's practice of separating migrant children from their parents, respondents most commonly used the words "sad," "terrible," and "bad." Sixty percent of voters said separating children from their parents was a violation of human rights.

Under Trump's "zero tolerance" policy, the government has begun prosecuting all migrants caught entering the country without authorization. Trump has halted his policy of taking children from their detained parents under public pressure but around 2,000 of them are still being held, with many families saying they've not known how to locate them.

The administration has come under fire for the policy after images from detention centers sparked outrage nationwide. Hundreds of thousands of demonstrators across the country took to the streets on Saturday to protest the separations.

Credit: JIM YOUNG/AFP/Getty Images
Protestors march through the streets during a demonstration against the US immigration policies separating migrant families in Chicago, June 30, 2018.

Other findings from the Quinnipiac poll include:

  • 49 percent of voters said President Trump is racist, while 47 percent said he was not.
  • 55 percent of respondents said Trump has "emboldened" racist people, while 39 percent said he did not.
  • The president's approval rating has declined to 40 percent from 43 percent in June.
  • Lack of civility is a serious problem in American politics, 91 percent of voters said.
  • 60 percent said Democrats were more interested in "exploiting the nation's immigration issue for political gain," while 34 percent said they were focused on "resolving the nation's immigration issue."

The poll was conducted by Quinnipiac University and included responses from 1,020 voters.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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