Most say treatment of migrant families will be important to midterm vote: poll

Roughly 60 percent of Americans say the treatment of migrant families arriving at the U.S.–Mexico border is important to their vote in this year’s midterms, according to a new poll.

The CBS News/YouGov poll, released Sunday, found that one-third of Americans indicated the issue will be very important to their vote. The results come days after the Trump administration reversed its practice of separating migrant families who cross the border illegally.

The importance varies along party lines, the poll found. Among Democrats polled, 84 percent said the issue will be important to their vote, while 43 percent of Republicans said the same. 

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Voters are also split along party lines in terms of how those crossing the border illegally should be treated.

Among Democrats, 79 percent said those individuals should be “treated well as an example of kindness.” 

Among Republicans, 73 percent said they should be “punished as an example of toughness,” according to the poll.

The poll surveyed 2,063 adults on June 21 and 22. The margin of error is 2.6 percentage points.

Republican support for tough consequences came as President Trump insisted on Sunday that those who enter the U.S. illegally should be deported without access to courts. 

We cannot allow all of these people to invade our Country. When somebody comes in, we must immediately, with no Judges or Court Cases, bring them back from where they came. Our system is a mockery to good immigration policy and Law and Order. Most children come without parents…

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 24, 2018

Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order halting migrant family separations that resulted from his “zero tolerance” policy. The president did so after saying, for days, that only Congress could address the issue.

The Trump administration has faced overwhelming backlash for the policy, which led to more than 2,000 separations between April and May. Democrats and Republicans alike have called family separation “cruel” and “inhumane.”

Under the new executive order, most families are to be detained together, though the futures of those separated under the original policy are still unclear.