Depending on who you ask, immigration is either President Donald Trump’s greatest accomplishment or his most significant failing since returning to office in January 2025.
In an ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll conducted using Ipsos’ KnowledgePanel, Trump approvers were asked to name the three best things Trump has done since taking office this term, while Trump disapprovers were asked to name the three worst things he has done since entering office.
About 8 in 10 responses from Trump approvers mentioned immigration, along with nearly 6 in 10 mentions among Trump disapprovers. Over 4 in 10 mentions from approvers were about securing the borders, while about one-third mentioned increased immigration enforcement or ICE. Half of Trump disapprover mentions were about increased immigration enforcement or ICE.
The poll was conducted Feb. 12-17 — after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis involving federal agents.
President Donald Trump speaks during a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, February 20, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz/Getty Images
Trump approvers are those who said in the poll that they approved of the way Trump was handling his job as president; Trump disapprovers disapprove of how he’s handling his job. Respondents were given the chance to provide three open-ended responses. Because respondents were able to respond with up to three answers, the totals equal more than 100%.
As previously reported, majorities of Americans disapprove of the president overall as well as how he’s handling inflation, tariffs, relations with other countries, immigration and the economy. His overall 60% disapproval rating is the highest numerical disapproval of his second term and matches his disapproval rating after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
More than 4 in 10 mentions from Trump approvers included some discussion of the economy (45%), including 14% of mentions about tariffs and 9% about inflation or prices.
Among Trump disapprovers, in addition to immigration, a third of mentions say the economy is the worst thing Trump has done, with the bulk of those mentions devoted to tariffs.
More than 2 in 10 mentions from Trump disapprovers were either about corruption, violating the constitution, people’s rights and politicizing the Department of Justice. Just under 2 in 10 mentions were about poor international relations and another 13% were focused on the release of the files related to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
Below are some quotes from poll respondents who approve of Trump when listing the three best things the president has done this term:
“Kicking out the illegals”
“Closed the border”
“He is putting tariffs on things coming from other countries.”
“Mass Deportation”
“Making tax cuts permanent”
And here are some quotes from poll respondents who disapprove of Trump when listing the three worst things he has done this term:
“Sending federal troops to Minnesota and causing murders”
“ICE”
“Tariffs”
“Allowing DHS and ICE to operate with complete disregard for Due Process”
“Politicizing the justice department”
“Damaged our system of checks and balances”
Methodology — This ABC News-Washington Post-Ipsos poll was conducted via the probability-based Ipsos KnowledgePanel, Feb. 12-17, 2026, among 2,589 U.S. adults and has an overall margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points, plus or minus 3.4 points among the sample of 887 adults who approve of Trump and plus or minus 2.7 points among the sample of 1,422 adults who disapprove of Trump. The error margins are larger among partisan group subsamples.
This analysis was aided by the use of BTInsights, an AI open-end coding software that sorts responses into similar categories. Each response was reviewed by a human coder to ensure it was accurately categorized and then, if necessary, recategorized. Category names were also edited after a review of codes within each group.
See PDF for full results and detailed methodology.
Email ABCNEWS.Polls@abc.com to be added to ABC News’ polling distribution list.
More ABC News polls can be found at abcnews.com. Media contacts: Jeannie Kedas and Amanda Long.
Previous releases:
Americans oppose the tactics ICE is using to enforce immigration laws by 2:1 margin
Majority of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling tariffs
Most Americans disapprove of Trump on issues; Americans don’t trust Dems in Congress more to handle problems
