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USA Today
21-06-2025
- Politics
- USA Today
Trump is on a collision course with millions of Americans. He's not backing down.
After the No Kings protests that saw millions speak out against the Trump administration's immigration policies, the White House is ramping up efforts to deport undocumented immigrants. The White House is doubling down on President Trump's signature campaign promise and escalating efforts to deport undocumented immigrants, targeting Democrat-run cities and heightening tensions with powerful liberal governors from California to New York. The pressure-cooker campaign comes after the massive "No Kings" protests last weekend that drew millions of Americans out to the streets to oppose Trump's administration, which has made immigration enforcement a top priority. The protests included about 5 million people nationally, according to organizers, and many attendees specifically cited concerns about immigration enforcement. A week before, fierce protests in Los Angeles sparked by aggressive detentions by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents led to clashes, tear gassing, scattered looting and multiple vehicles being set on fire. The vast majority of attendees were peaceful, however. To quell the protests and protect ICE agents in California, Trump called up thousands of National Guard troops over the objections of Gov. Gavin Newsom − referred to by Trump as "Newscum" − and has told federal agents they have his unconditional support to continue aggressive enforcement. Trump has also invoked military powers usually reserved for wartime, declaring that Biden-era immigration policies facilitated an invasion. And the president is pushing to dramatically expand detention centers and deportation flights while finishing the U.S.-Mexico border wall. Immigrant-rights advocates have reported harsher enforcement in rural farming communities and big cities alike, and note that federal statistics show more than 40% of ICE detainees have no criminal record. Trump and administration officials say they are targeting violent criminals and gang members, though Americans are also seeing vineyard workers, car-wash attendants and building contractors snatched up, in many cases by masked men and women refusing to identify themselves, ratcheting up tensions. Polls show a majority of voters support the president's approach: 51% of Americans approve of his handling of border security and immigration, although only 45% of voters approve of his overall job as president, according to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll, conducted with SurveyMonkey. "The American people want our cities, schools and communities to be SAFE and FREE from illegal alien crime, conflict, and chaos," Trump said in a social media post. "That's why I have directed my entire administration to put every resource possible behind this effort and reverse the tide of mass destruction migration that has turned once idyllic towns into scenes of third world dystopia." While border crossings have dropped dramatically, videos of masked federal agents chasing people across fields or grabbing them off city streets have horrified many Americans, and liberal leaders across the country say construction sites, farms and some entire neighborhoods are falling silent as undocumented workers stay home to avoid detention. Some critics accused Trump of causing chaos with ICE raids, then using the community response to justify even harsher measures. On June 19, federal immigration agents were briefly blocked at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles by protesters trying to stop detentions. Trump remains undeterred and is pushing Congress to pass a funding measure that would allow him to hire 10,000 new ICE agents, 5,000 more customs officers, and 3,000 additional Border Patrol agents. Resistance to Trump immigration enforcement spreading Across the country, the impacts of Trump's aggressive policies are adding up: coffee shops are sharing tips on how to protect workers, advocates are tracking and reporting ongoing ICE raids to warn at-risk communities, and other groups are adopting resistance tactics that include surrounding ICE agents. In California, officials are even boosting food-bank funding to help people afraid to go grocery shopping as waves of anxiety sweep through immigrant communities. While Trump officials are targeting people living illegally in the United States, the detentions are also affecting the estimated 4.7 million households that have both legal and undocumented members, according to the nonprofit Center for Migration Studies. "People are living in fear," New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said June 17 after ICE agents arrested New York City Comptroller Brad Lander as he was escorting a defendant from immigration court. ICE officials claimed Lander assaulted an agent, although video shows Lander appeared instead to have been manhandled by masked men as he demanded to see an arrest warrant. ICE agents have increasingly been detaining people going to court for scheduled immigration hearings, and are using a new Trump directive to detain people who would otherwise be protected from deportation. White House officials have suggested that other elected officials opposing Trump's immigration policies could also be arrested, and several members of Congress have recently been briefly detained or "manhandled" by federal agents, including California Sen. Alex Padilla, a Democrat. Immigrant rights experts worry what comes next Some immigration experts say Trump's approach reflects his administration's efforts to find ways to detain and deport people as quickly as possible, often at the cost of ignoring due process. "They're trying everything to see what they can get away with," said Prof. Michael Kagan, an immigration attorney and director of the immigration clinic at the University of Nevada Las Vegas. "They are being far more provocative with raids in the community and also explicitly targeting Democrats and Democratic politicians." Kagan said while many Trump voters backed him over his immigration enforcement plans, he believes a growing number of his supporters are concerned that enforcement has not primarily targeted violent criminals and gang members as promised. "It definitely seems that while there's a core of his supporters who love this, the majority of the public does not," Kagan said. Advocates decry broken trust with police Retired California police officer Diane Goldstein said she's been "appalled" to see the tactics ICE agents have been using against immigrant communities and some American citizens. Goldstein was a police lieutenant in the Los Angeles area and now is executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, a nonprofit that works with communities to help reform policing. Goldstein said the way ICE is acting risks erasing decades of hard-won bonds of trust between law enforcement and communities across the country, from the immigrants who are growing reluctant to call 911 for help to the ordinary Americans watching masked agents grab people without producing any identification or warrant. The New York City Bar Association on June 20 said letting agents obscure their identities with masks and other measures helps them evade accountability. "They are setting local law enforcement back on their heels after we have fought for years to engage with people," said Goldstein. "They're not policing in a constitutionally protected manner. We are disappearing people. We are even arresting U.S. citizens and disappearing them, and that is not what we do." She added: "We can't serve people unless they trust us. Having an angry community doesn't benefit either the community or our police officers. People think it's not going to impact them until it does." In a statement, the ACLU said Trump will continue to escalate his efforts unless reined in by the courts, Congress and the American public. "We have never experienced a moment like this in our lifetimes, when our troops are being turned against our communities, acting in the service of a military police state," the ACLU said. "These attacks are transparently about consolidating power, bringing critics to heel, and eliminating the space to fight back."
The Hill
18-06-2025
- Business
- The Hill
Americans split on whether AI will make life better or worse: Survey
Americans are split on whether artificial intelligence (AI) will make life better or worse, according to an NBC News Decision Desk Poll released Wednesday. Asked about AI's impact on 'the life of you and your family' overall, 7 percent of respondents said lives will be 'much better,' 37 percent said 'somewhat better,' 26 percent said 'somewhat worse,' 16 percent said 'much worse,' and 13 percent said it will have 'no effect.' AI has rapidly transformed the tech world, turning chip makers like Nvidia into a behemoth and stirring competition between giants including Alphabet, Meta and OpenAI, which is backed by Microsoft. Earlier this year, President Trump announced a joint effort to invest up to $500 billion in building the infrastructure necessary for AI development over his second round in the White House, involving SoftBank, OpenAi and Oracle. A survey from earlier this year found that a majority of Americans have used ChatGPT-like AI models. In the survey from Elon University's Imagining the Digital Future Center, 52 percent said they 'use artificial intelligence (AI) large language models,' a category that includes OpenAI's famous ChatGPT. In the NBC News Decision Desk Poll, 14 percent of respondents said they used 'AI tools such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini or Microsoft Copilot' very often, 30 percent said sometimes, and 26 percent said they never use the tools. The NBC News Decision Desk Poll was taken from May 30 to June 10, featuring 19,410 people with plus or minus 2.1 percentage points as its estimated margin of error.
NBC News
18-06-2025
- NBC News
American attitudes about AI today mirror poll answers about the rise of the internet in the '90s
Artificial intelligence chat tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's Gemini and Microsoft's Copilot have achieved significant public adoption, according to the latest NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. Nearly three-quarters of adults — 74% — say they've used one of the tools at some point. And 44% say they use them 'sometimes' or 'often.' Despite rising acceptance, the future ubiquity of artificial intelligence tools like those put out by OpenAI and Google remains an open question. Polling data suggests that current adoption rates of AI chat tools look similar to internet adoption rates at the turn of the century. But the trajectory of AI's growth and the challenges it faces are unique. When an October 1998 Newsweek poll asked respondents how often they were using the internet, 38% said once a week or more. By June 2000, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal Poll found that 71% adults had internet access and that among that group, three-quarters were using it for at least an hour a week. Internet use has, of course, only continued to rise since 2000. Daily internet use is now a more relevant metric than weekly use, and much of the public debate centers on what limits to internet access are necessary. The NBC News Decision Desk Poll identifies how public reservations shape opinions about AI adoption. In the recent survey, 47% said they believe a school that prohibits using AI would better prepare students for the future. That sentiment extends even to the most frequent AI chat tool users — one-fifth of those who say they use AI tools 'often' say prohibiting them in the classroom would better prepare students. Society's concerns about internet ubiquity may mean we're in new territory regarding technological caution. Yet, it's important to remember that public sentiment toward new technologies doesn't always prioritize adoption. When CBS News asked in 1999 whether the ability to use the internet was important for school-age children, 48% said it wasn't all that important.
Axios
16-06-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Most Americans view Supreme Court as partisan: Poll
While Americans have conflicting opinions on the Supreme Court, a majority agree that the Trump administration must comply with federal court orders, two recent polls found. The big picture: The high court is slated to make a slew of rulings in coming weeks on issues Americans remained deeply divided on, including on judicial power, birthright citizenship and gender-affirming care for transgender youth. Zoom in: Americans are divided on their views of the Supreme Court: 55% have a strongly or somewhat favorable view of the high court, while 45% have a somewhat or strongly unfavorable view, an NBC News Decision Desk Poll poll found. There's a partisan divide in how Americans view the judicial body, per a separate Reuters-Ipsos poll: 67% of Republicans viewing the high court favorably, compared to only 26% of Democrats. Something that both sides agree on: Neither Republicans nor Democrats see the court as politically neutral, according to the Reuters poll. Between the lines: The Supreme Court in recent months has been clearing away many of the hurdles lower courts have put in President Trump's path. The court, with its 6-3 conservative majority, has three justices appointed by Trump during his first term. Still, legal battles over many aspects of his second-term agenda remain. Zoom out: The Trump administration has defied a number of court orders, particularly related to immigration policies. Americans are not on board, a NBC News Decision Desk Poll found. 81% of respondents believe the administration must follow federal court rulings and stop actions deemed illegal. Meanwhile, 19% believe the administration can ignore court rulings. Details: The Reuters-Ipsos poll, conducted June 11-12, was based on responses from 1,136 U.S. adults. It had a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. The NBC News Decision Desk Poll was conducted from May 30-June 10 among a national sample of 19,410 adults aged 18 and over. The error estimate is plus or minus 2.1 percentage points.
NBC News
16-06-2025
- Health
- NBC News
Poll: RFK Jr.'s food agenda finds appeal across partisan lines, but vaccines are a different story
New polling about Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and elements of his policy agenda shows how his 'Make America Healthy Again' push doesn't break down along the same neat partisan lines as some other issues, creating some political vulnerability and some opportunity. A significant majority of U.S. adults support using vaccines to prevent diseases, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats and independents, according to the NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. And the share of people who believe vaccines are most to blame for chronic health issues is small, two dynamics that are at odds with Kennedy's repeated efforts to cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of vaccines. Kennedy has long spread misinformation about the safety and effectiveness of childhood vaccines. As health secretary, he recently dismantled the country's premier group of vaccine experts — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's independent committee of vaccine advisers — and replaced former members with several well-known vaccine skeptics. The poll results suggest those actions don't resonate with the majority of adults. But Kennedy's focus on overhauling the nation's intake of ultraprocessed food — a key part of his "Make America Healthy Again" agenda — is an issue many adults can get behind. The most popular answer to the poll question about what deserves the most blame for America's chronic health problems was the food industry, at 35%, followed closely by the choices of individuals, at 32%. Kennedy has also targeted environmental toxins as one of the most urgent health issues in the United States, but 6% of respondents agreed that such toxins were the most important reason behind chronic health problems. The public is fairly closely divided over its view of Kennedy himself, with a 51% majority viewing him favorably and 48% viewing him unfavorably. The majority of Democrats' view Kennedy "strongly unfavorably," while a slim majority of Republicans view him "somewhat favorably." Those who identify more with the MAGA movement, as opposed to considering themselves primarily supporters of the Republican Party, are far more likely to have "strongly favorable" views of Kennedy. On vaccines, 49% of adults say they "strongly support" using vaccines to prevent diseases, with 31% more saying they "somewhat support" it. Another 13% "somewhat oppose" using vaccines to prevent diseases, and 7% oppose it "strongly." About three-quarters of Democrats "strongly support" the use of vaccines (and another 16% somewhat support it) and majorities of Republicans and independents support vaccines either "strongly" or "somewhat." Across ages and genders, the most popular answer was that people "strongly support" using vaccines, including majorities of people ages 18 to 29 and those 65 and older, who were kids when illnesses like measles and polio were common. People between those two groups — ages 30 to 64 — were slightly less likely to signal strong support for vaccines, even as a plurality still chose the option. The survey didn't differentiate between Covid vaccines and routine childhood vaccines, like the measles-mumps-rubella shots. While Kennedy's vaccine skepticism has been a hallmark of his long career inside and outside Washington, he has also waged war on the food industry and accused producers of ultraprocessed foods, environmental toxins and vaccines of contributing to an epidemic of health problems in America. The poll data suggests a significant chunk of adults are sympathetic to at least part of that pitch, around the food industry. Among adults, 35% say the food industry deserves the most blame for chronic health problems in the United States like obesity and heart disease. That factor was narrowly the top pick of respondents ahead of "the choices of individuals," which 32% of people chose as deserving the most blame for chronic health problems. Socioeconomic status (12%) and health insurance companies (10%) were the only other choices of the seven provided that drew double-digit support. Environmental toxins were the top pick of 6%, another 3% chose vaccines, and 2% chose genetics. Younger adults, a segment of the population that typically leans more liberal, were likelier to choose the food industry as most to blame, while older adults were likelier to choose "the choices of individuals." And the concept that socioeconomic status is most to blame for chronic health issues appears to be resonating on the left and not the right. While 30% of progressives chose it, as did 14% of those who see themselves as more aligned with the Democratic Party, only small shares of Republicans agreed.
