Trump Polls: Are Americans In Favor Of Controversial Refugee Ban?

A poll from the right-leaning polling firm Rasmussen Reports indicated Monday more than half of likely voters support President Donald Trump’s ban on refugees from seven countries until the government can do a better job of keeping terrorists out.

The national telephone survey of 1,000 likely voters last Wednesday and Thursday indicated 57 percent favored a temporary ban on refugees from Syria, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen while 33 percent were opposed and 10 percent, undecided.

The ban is supported by 82 percent of Republicans and 59 percent of unaligned voters. Democrats opposed the ban 53 percent to 34 percent. Younger voters were less likely to be supportive than their elders while blacks more strongly opposed to the ban than whites

Sixty-two percent of those queried opposed former President Barack Obama’s plan to bring tens of thousands of Middle Eastern and African refugees to the United States this year, and most voters said they believe the U.S. is at war with radical Islam.

Rasmussen said the findings were little changed from August when 59 percent agreed with Trump’s call for a temporary ban on immigration from “the most dangerous and volatile regions of the world that have a history of exporting terrorism.”

The survey had a 3 percentage point margin of error and 95 percent confidence level.

The survey was taken prior to the signing of an executive order barring refugees and the subsequent airport protests that roiled the nation during the weekend.

The administration Monday was still trying to clarify orders on who should be detained at airports and reaction continued to mount.

More than 100 State Department employees have signed a draft formal protest against the refugee order, the Wall Street Journal reported.

“This ban, which can only be lifted under conditions which will be difficult or impossible for countries to meet, will not achieve its stated aim of [protecting] protect the American people from terrorist attacks by foreign nationals admitted to the United States,” a copy of the draft cable reviewed by the Journal said.

It warns the executive order will have a negative impact on diplomatic relations with the affected countries and the Muslim world as a whole.

“By alienating them, we lose access [to] the intelligence and resources need[ed] to fight the root causes of terror abroad, before an attack occurs within our borders,” the draft cable said.

White House spokesman Sean Spicer said the dissenters can either “get with the program or they can go.”

Trump justified the order Friday, saying he wants to ensure “radical Islamic terrorists” cannot infiltrate the U.S.

“We don’t want them here,” Trump said at the signing ceremony at the Pentagon.

“We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who support our country and love deeply our people,” he said.

Yelp co-founder and CEO Jeremy Stoppelman took issue with the ban in a note to employees where he pointed out his grandfather came to the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany.

“It’s hard for me to comprehend the underlying motivation and lack of empathy that drove the president’s executive order this weekend,” he said.