Regardless of partisanship, most say Trump should have to follow the same rules as any other president

Washington, D.C., December 6, 2024 – A new Syracuse University/Ipsos poll finds that a majority of Americans say they support deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally. However, support drops to less than a majority for deporting who enter the country illegally if it involves separating families or sending people to countries other than their country of origin, using active-duty military to find and detain undocumented immigrants, or using money allocated to the U.S. military to pay for deportation.

The poll also finds that Americans have mixed reactions to several figures who have been mentioned as potentially involved with the incoming Trump Administration, including businessman Elon Musk, former Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and Fox News commentator Pete Hegseth. Most Americans also say they think President-elect Donald Trump should have to follow the same rules as any other president rather than being able to do what he wants with no outside checks on his authority.

Detailed findings

1. A majority of Americans say they want Trump to follow the same rules as any other president.

• About nine in ten Americans (88%) say they think Trump should have to follow the same rules as any other president with Congress authorizing legislation and approving high-level officials, compared to 10% who says Trump should be able to do what he wants.
• This holds true across party, with 88% of all respondents, 96% of Democrats, 89% of independents, and 82% of Republicans agreeing. However, Republicans (17%) are more likely than Democrats (2%) and independents (10%) to say they think Trump should be able to do what he wants and appoint who he wants with no outside checks on his authority.
• A majority of Americans say it is absolutely important for them to live in a country where free and fair elections are held regularly with a choice of at least two political parties. On a ten-point scale, majorities of Americans (71%), Democrats (81%), independents (72%), and Republicans (70%) all say that living in such a country is absolutely important to them.
• Americans are slightly more likely to say they identify with the Republican Party (31%) than the Democratic Party (25%). Republicans are also more likely to identify with the MAGA movement (24%) than Democrats when it comes to Democratic – Socialists (12%).

2. A majority of Americans support deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally. However, support drops for deportations when other information is included.

• Seven in ten (69%) support deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally. This is strongly partisan, with 90% of Republicans supporting this compared to 47% of Democrats and 70% of independents. Fewer support deporting immigrants who are in the country legally (11% of all respondents, 16% of Republicans, 8% of independents, and 7% of Democrats). These levels have not changed compared to a September 2024 Syracuse University/Ipsos poll.
• However, 37% supports deporting immigrants that came to the U.S. illegally as children, while 35% supports quickly deporting detained immigrants, even if it involves separating families or sending people to countries other than their country of origin.
• Under half say they support using active-duty military to find and detain undocumented immigrants (41%), including 70% of Republicans, 32% of independents, and 17% of Democrats. Fewer support using money allocated to the U.S. military to pay for deportation.

3. Americans have mixed reactions to Trump’s cabinet picks.

• Many Americans are unfamiliar with many figures who have been mentioned as potentially being involved with the second Trump administration. Americans are most familiar with Musk (93%) and Kennedy Jr. (86%).
• Americans are split between saying each of these names would have a good or bad impact on America if confirmed for a leadership position, including Kennedy Jr. (+1 net percent good), Senator Marco Rubio (+3), former U.S. rep. Tulsi Gabbard (-3) and Elon Musk (-3). Former rep. Matt Gaetz is the only name out of the eight tested that is seen as having a significantly bad impact on America. This poll was conducted November 22-24, going into field a day after Gaetz withdrew from attorney general consideration.
• Impressions of the potential cabinet picks and Musk are starkly divided along partisan lines. Of the eight names tested, on average, Republicans have a +39 net favorability rating of the eight figures tested, while Democrats (-55 net favorability rating) and independents (-15) both have negative impressions of these people.
• A separate sample of Americans were also split on a word association with each of these people. Americans were split between “weird” (19%) and “capable” (18%) when asked about Kennedy Jr., “weird” (24%) and “innovative” (25%) when asked about Musk, and “disgraceful” (12%) and “capable” (13%) when asked about Tulsi Gabbard. Compared to Musk and Kennedy Jr., far more Americans didn’t know Gabbard (21% don’t know for Kennedy Jr, 9% for Musk, and 52% for Gabbard).
• Americans were more likely to rate Hegseth (16%) and Gaetz (33%) as “disgraceful,” and more likely to rate Marco Rubio as “capable” (27%). However, 62% say they don’t know Hegseth, 43% don’t know Gaetz, and 32% don’t know Rubio.

About the Study

This Syracuse University/Ipsos poll was conducted by Ipsos from November 22 to November 24, 2024, using the probability-based KnowledgePanel^®. This poll is based on a nationally representative probability sample of 1,029 adults age 18 or older. The sample includes 304 Republicans, 311 Democrats, and 289 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 study was conducted in English. The data for the total sample were weighted to adjust for gender by age, race/ethnicity, education, Census region, metropolitan status, and household income. Party ID benchmarks are from the 2024 NPORS annual survey. The demographic benchmarks came from the 2023 March Supplement of the Current Population Survey (CPS).

• 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 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+)
• Party ID (Democrat, Lean Democrat, Republican, Lean Republican, Independent/Something else)

The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.3 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 1.15. For Republicans, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5.9 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.09. For Democrats, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 5.9 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.13. For independents, the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.2 percentage points, and the design effect is 1.17.

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:

Chris Jackson
Senior Vice President, US
Public Affairs
+1 202 420-2025
[email protected]

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

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