Fixing the migration crisis should be a higher priority than tax cuts, voters believe according to a new post-election poll.
In the survey taken by Ipsos and Reuters, voters were asked what Trump’s top priority should be in the first 100 days after his inauguration on 20 January.
A quarter of respondents said president-elect Trump should prioritize immigration, “a much larger share than any other issue.”
Fourteen percent said Trump should focus on income equality, 12% said he should focus on taxes and smaller numbers picked healthcare, crimes, jobs or the environment.
A majority of respondents expected Trump to carry out mass deportations, in line with his campaign promise of “the largest deportation operation in American history.”
Over 80% of Democrats say they are concerned about the policy, and 40% of independents. By contrast, 90% of Republicans said they were not bothered.
In an interview on Thursday, Trump told NBC News that he would carry out his promise of mass deportations regardless of cost.
“It’s not a question of a price tag. It’s not — really, we have no choice,” he said.
“When people have killed and murdered, when drug lords have destroyed countries, and now they’re going to go back to those countries because they’re not staying here. There is no price tag.”
Trump has stated that the program would operate at multiple levels, involving federal and local agencies and potentially even the military.
The actual mechanisms of mass deportation are likely to prove divisive.
According to the Ipsos/Reuters poll, 58% of Republicans and only 15% of Democrats agreed with the statement that illegal immigrants should be “arrested and put in detention camps while awaiting deportation hearings.” 75% of Democrats opposed detaining illegals in the manner, as did 31% of Republicans.