A new poll shows that the majority of Americans have approved President Trump's immigration policy, but mostly acknowledge his worst problem, his tariff plans.
Trump's crackdown on illegal immigrants, marked by the arrests and deportation of thousands of criminal immigrants, has earned the president the highest mark of the seven policy issues highlighted in it. The CNN poll was released on Wednesday.
The president received a 51% approval rate for immigration. This was seven points higher than any point during his first term.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has arrested 32,000 illegal immigrants (70% of whom face charges or are convicted of crimes), while in Trump's first 50 days, officials said Wednesday.
Trump, 78, has stepped up deportation efforts, including opening up a US naval base in Cuba's Guantanamo Bay to detain immigrants and negotiating deals with several Latin American countries to acquire exiles.
However, only 12% of respondents chose immigration as their biggest concern. This outweighed healthcare (6%), foreign policy (3%) and climate change (2%).
The economy ranked as the biggest problem for 42% of Americans, and has won the state of democracy in the United States (19%), federal working style (14%), and immigration.
Over half of respondents, over 56%, approved Trump's handling of economic issues, and 44% approved it.
Trump's tariff policy was a painful place amidst economic issues.
61% of Americans were dissatisfied with the president's intense tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China.
Trump last week imposed a 25% ship-on-ship tariff on Canada and Mexico, claiming that US neighbours have not done enough to tighten the distribution of fentanyl precursors and illegal immigrants.
The president has also implemented a new 20% tariff on imports from China for the past two months.
In his latest move, Trump raised tariffs on global steel and aluminum imports to 25% on Wednesday.
The president is expected to slap mutual tariffs in foreign countries that have import taxes on US goods next month.
Overall, Trump's approval rate is 45%, according to a CNN poll conducted between March 6 and March 9, which surveyed more than 1,200 US adults.
