Majority of Americans oppose ending birthright citizenship

Washington DC, May 15, 2025—New NPR/Ipsos polling finds that a bare majority of Americans continue to oppose ending birthright citizenship, as seen in an NPR/Ipsos poll from February. Likewise, a plurality continues to support giving legal status to immigrants without legal status brought to the U.S. as children. Overall, there has been little change in public opinion since February. However, there is some slight softening among Republicans on a few policies, as fewer support ending birthright citizenship than did three months ago.

The poll also finds that support for the Trump administration’s immigration proposals and initiatives remains lukewarm, as no policy receives a majority support. Lastly, Americans hold conflicting views on whether immigrants should have constitutional rights. A plurality agrees that First Amendment free speech protections should apply to everyone including immigrants, regardless of their legal status. However, a similar percentage also agrees that constitutional rights generally should not apply to immigrants in the country without legal status.

Detailed findings:

1. A slim majority of Americans oppose ending birthright citizenship, consistent with attitudes earlier this year.

• Fifty-three percent say they oppose ending birthright citizenship, in line with February 2025 (54%). About one in four support the measure to end birthright citizenship (28%), while 17% say they don’t know.
• Support has softened slightly among Republicans. Forty-eight percent now say they support ending birthright citizenship, down eight percentage points from February (56%). Across the political aisle, 11% of Democrats support ending birthright citizenship, while 79% oppose.
• In the same vein, 46% support giving legal status to immigrants without legal status brought to the U.S. as children, unchanged from February. Fewer now oppose this measure (29% vs. 37% in February), with slightly more Americans now unsure one way or the other.

2. Similar to February, no immigration proposals receive majority support from the public, and support remains largely unchanged. Americans remain divided on if immigration restrictions go too far or not far enough, though fewer now believe they do not go far enough.

• Thirty-five percent say the recent immigration restrictions enacted in the past few weeks go too far. About three in ten (28%) say they are about right, while 12% say they don’t go far enough and 23% don’t know.
• Compared to February, more Americans believe restrictions are about right (28% vs. 16%), and fewer believe they don’t go far enough (12% vs. 29%).
• More Republicans now say that immigration restrictions are just right than did in February (49% vs. 30%). In contrast, slightly more independents now believe that the current restrictions go too far (37% vs. 30%).
• Quickly deporting alleged gang members under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 garners the most support from the public, as 48% support this (31% oppose, 18% don’t know).
• Around two in five Americans support allowing local law enforcement to arrest and detain immigrants without legal status (44%) and the mass deportation of everyone who is in the country without legal status (40%), both in line with February.
• More unpopular initiatives include canceling visas for students who participated in pro-Palestine protests, forcing them to leave the U.S. (32% support), and deporting immigrants without legal status to Libya (29%).
• Partisanship colors opinion on nearly all of these policies, with Democrats and Republicans holding largely opposing views on these policies. Independents closely mirror the overall public’s attitudes.

3. The question of whether constitutional rights should apply to immigrants without legal status largely depends on how the question is framed. For example, a plurality of Americans agrees that First Amendment free speech protections should apply to everyone including immigrants, regardless of their legal status. However, a similar number also says that constitutional rights should not apply to immigrants in the country without legal status.

• Forty-five percent of Americans agree that First Amendment protections of free speech should apply equally to everyone including immigrants, regardless of their legal status. Thirty percent disagree with this statement.
• In contrast, 43% agree constitutional rights should not apply to immigrants in the country without legal status, compared to 32% who disagree.
• Similarly, 46% of Americans agree it would take too long to give trials to millions of immigrants without legal status before deporting them. However, 42% also agree that immigrants, regardless of their legal status, who are accused of being gang members should have a chance to fight those allegations in court before they are deported.
• Again, partisanship mediates opinion on these statements. Republicans are more likely to agree that constitutional rights should not apply to those without legal status and that it would take too long to give trials to millions of immigrants before deporting them. Democrats are more likely to agree that the First Amendment should protect everyone regardless of legal status, and that constitutional rights should apply to anyone in the U.S. Agreement among independents is in line with the general population on all these statements.

4. While many Americans have seen or heard secondhand accounts of the new immigration policies in their local communities, few have seen anything personally.

• Two in five Americans say they have heard about the impacts of these new immigration policies in their local community through the local news (42%) or on social media (39%), both down six percentage points from February.
• One in five Americans have heard about specific impacts of these new immigration policies through family and friends, down eleven percentage points from February.
• Just 7% of Americans say they have witnessed the specific impacts in person. Those ages 18-34 and 35-49 (10% each) are more likely than their older counterparts to say they have seen specific impacts personally.

About the Study

This NPR/Ipsos poll was conducted by Ipsos from May 9 to May 11, 2025, using the probability-based KnowledgePanel®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,019 adults age 18 or older. The sample includes 284 Republicans, 308 Democrats, and 308 independents.

The survey was conducted using KnowledgePanel, the largest and most well-established online probability-based panel that is representative of the adult U.S. population. Our recruitment process employs a scientifically developed addressed-based sampling methodology using the latest Delivery Sequence File of the USPS – a database with full coverage of all delivery points in the U.S. Households invited to join the panel are randomly selected from all available households in the U.S. Persons in the sampled households are invited to join and participate in the panel. Those selected who do not already have internet access are provided a tablet and internet connection at no cost to the panel member. Those who join the panel and who are selected to participate in a survey are sent a unique password-protected log-in used to complete surveys online. As a result of our recruitment and sampling methodologies, samples from KnowledgePanel cover all households regardless of their phone or internet status and findings can be reported with a margin of sampling error and projected to the general population.

The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, and household income. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2024 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS). The 2024 presidential vote choice benchmarks came from the federal elections 2024 election results for the U.S. President.

• Gender (Male, Female) by Age (18–29, 30–44, 45-59 and 60+)
• Race/Hispanic Ethnicity (White Non-Hispanic, Black Non-Hispanic, Other, Non-Hispanic, Hispanic, 2+ Races, Non-Hispanic)
• Education (Less than High School, High School, Some College, Bachelor’s degree, Master’s degree or higher)
• Census Region (Northeast, Midwest, South, West)
• Metropolitan status (Metro, non-Metro)
• Household Income (Under $25,000, $25,000-$49,999, $50,000-$74,999, $75,000-$99,999, $100,000-$149,999, $150,000+)
• 2024 Presidential Election Vote (Donald Trump, Kamala Harris, Other, Did not vote)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points at the 95% confidence level, for results based on the entire sample of adults. The margin of sampling error takes into account the design effect, which was 1.42. For Republicans, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.6 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.29. For Democrats, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.6 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.39. For independents, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.7 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.46.

The margin of sampling error is higher and varies for results based on sub-samples. In our reporting of the findings, percentage points are rounded off to the nearest whole number. As a result, percentages in a given table column may total slightly higher or lower than 100%. In questions that permit multiple responses, columns may total substantially more than 100%, depending on the number of different responses offered by each respondent. 

For more information on this news release, please contact:

Mallory Newall
Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 374-2613
[email protected]

About Ipsos

Ipsos is one of the largest market research and polling companies globally, operating in 90 markets and employing over 18,000 people.

Our passionately curious research professionals, analysts and scientists have built unique multi-specialist capabilities that provide true understanding and powerful insights into the actions, opinions and motivations of citizens, consumers, patients, customers or employees. We serve more than 5000 clients across the world with 75 business solutions.

Founded in France in 1975, Ipsos is listed on the Euronext Paris since July 1st, 1999. The company is part of the SBF 120 and the Mid-60 index and is eligible for the Deferred Settlement Service (SRD).

ISIN code FR0000073298, Reuters ISOS.PA, Bloomberg IPS:FP www.ipsos.com