Fox News Poll: Sharp division along political lines on Trump's travel ban

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White House says all options are on the table for travel ban

John Roberts reports from the White House

A majority of voters thinks President Trump’s executive order on immigration is better described as a restriction on terrorist hot spots than as a “Muslim ban.”  And more think the action makes the U.S. safer than say it makes the country less safe.

Even so, more disapprove (52 percent) than approve (46 percent) of the temporary travel ban.

That’s according to a Fox News Poll released Tuesday.  

CLICK HERE FOR THE FOX NEWS POLL RESULTS

The least popular part of the executive order is the indefinite ban on Syrian refugees, as 53 percent say it “went too far.”

About as many, 51 percent, think the 120-day ban on all refugees from entering the U.S. “went too far,” and 48 percent feel that way about the 90-day ban on citizens from seven mostly Muslim countries.

Twelve percent overall, and 25 percent of Trump voters, think the travel ban on the seven countries “didn’t go far enough.”

For each element, nearly 4 voters in 10 think the ban was “about right.”

Trump’s Jan. 27 executive order has been halted in federal court. The administration has not yet said what steps it will take next to try to implement the policy.

The poll asked voters to choose between two descriptions of the executive order: 56 percent think it’s better described as a “restriction on people entering the United States from known terrorist hot spots.”  Some 37 percent say “a Muslim ban” is more accurate.

Meanwhile, by a 42-33 percent margin, voters think the travel ban makes the United States safer rather than less safe.  About one-quarter say it doesn’t make much difference (24 percent).

Donald Trump voters are more likely to say the ban makes the country safer by an 81-point margin (84-3 percent), and fully 92 percent of them approve of the overall travel ban.

Only seven percent of those who supported Hillary Clinton approve of the ban, and they think it makes the country “less safe” by a 55-point margin (62-7 percent).

Pollpourri

President Trump spoke about the depletion of the U.S. military in his inaugural address.  Voters agree.

The poll finds that 58 percent think the military is “stretched too thin,” and a 45-percent plurality feels it is underfunded.  Twenty-five percent think the federal government spends too much on the military, while another 25 percent think it spends the right amount.

In addition, voters are nearly three times as likely to say the military has gotten weaker rather than stronger over the last eight years (41 vs. 15 percent).  Among veterans, 56 percent say it has gotten weaker.

The partisan divide is wide.  Republicans (77 percent) are nearly twice as likely Democrats (40 percent) to say the military is stretched too thin, and more than nine times as likely to think it has gotten weaker over the last eight years (74 percent and 8 percent respectively).   And on funding priorities, 66 percent of Republicans think the government spends too little on the military, while just 25 percent of Democrats say the same.

The Fox News poll is based on landline and cellphone interviews with 1,013 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide and was conducted under the joint direction of Anderson Robbins Research (D) and Shaw & Company Research (R) from February 11-13, 2017.  The poll has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points for all registered voters.