Support for abolishing ICE hits a a new high

[Doodley]

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/support-for-abolishing-ice-is-at

But the topline really understates the intensity of public backlash to ICE and its tactics. In February 2025, just 19% of Americans held a strongly unfavorable view of ICE, per YouGov/The Economist. Today, 40% do. It’s not just that there has been a general move in opinion against the agency. There is a growing and intense, angry opposition to it across America.

So what happened? Americans didn’t suddenly become woke open-borders enthusiasts. My theory is that the growing backlash to ICE is a byproduct of people learning about the agency’s enforcement tactics.

Back in January 2025 (before most of the controversial raids that have taken place in the last year), AP-NORC found that 64% of Americans opposed arrests at schools and 57% opposed arrests at churches. The administration ignored these warnings, targeted migrants at church and school anyway, and it has suffered the consequences in the court of public opinion.

After one Chicago raid, in which American citizens were dragged out of their homes in the middle of the night and detained for hours, a Data for Progress poll found Americans nationwide opposed detaining citizens 66 to 26%. The firm also found 70% of Americans oppose zip-tying children during raids, which ICE also did in Chicago. That 70% overall percentage includes 53% of Republicans.

The January 2026 YouGov poll asked whether ICE’s tactics are too forceful, about right, or not forceful enough. A majority of adults said too forceful — 51%. Just 10% wanted more force. That’s a five-to-one ratio. 56% of Independents agreed ICE was using too much force.

SNIP

According to Civiqs, 42% of U.S. adults now support abolishing ICE entirely, while 50% oppose getting rid of the agency. That compares to 29% in Summer 2018, when the phrase was a rallying cry for progressives, 21% on Election Day 2024, and 37% in mid 2020, during the recent peak of the social justice movement. As of Jan. 8, independents had moved 15 points toward abolishing the agency in the past year, and even Republicans had increased their support by 6 points.

https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/support-for-abolishing-ice-is-at