MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
For more public opinion about immigration and politics, we're going to turn to NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, good morning.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey, Michel.
MARTIN: So where does the polling stand on this, and how has it changed over time?
MONTANARO: Well, whether or not people think immigration should increase or decrease, you know, tends to depend on the number of immigrants who cross the border illegally. You know, what I mean by this is that Gallup has been polling for decades about this sentiment and found last year, for example, that - in its latest survey with this question in it, that 55% of people wanted immigration to decrease. That's the highest it's been since 2001. And that was a very different political moment just after 9/11, but it was also the last time encounters at the southern border were as high as they were in the last couple of years.
MARTIN: So President Trump has certainly made immigration a key part of his message. I mean, that's, you know, since his first run for the presidency. But how do people view how he is handling it now?
MONTANARO: Well, we've gotten some conflicting messages from poll respondents on this across various surveys. For example, just this week, a CBS poll found 54% approved of his deportation policies. But just yesterday, a Quinnipiac poll showed 56% disapprove. What that tells us - for people who watch politics closely - is that there's volatility in the numbers. And that means a certain percentage of people are open to being swayed, and that's when circumstances and political messaging here are really important.
MARTIN: OK. What kinds of circumstances?
MONTANARO: Well, Trump certainly is at risk of going too far. You know, just because overall, people say that they're in favor of deporting those without permanent legal status - there's a difference between the kinds of hardened criminals that the administration said it would focus on and those who are hardworking members of communities in construction or restaurants or elsewhere. We've seen some pushback from within the president's own party, even warning that it should be cautious in how far they go. But cultural hard-liners in the White House, like Stephen Miller, disagree. They have the president's ear, and they're going to focus on any violence as a result of the protests and try and make that the focus.
MARTIN: And what about how the Democrats talk about this? What are you hearing about how they should be responding?
MONTANARO: Well, Democrats had really been having trouble finding their sea legs in talking about immigration. Trump focused on immigration during the campaign. Democrats lost, and some of them have shied away from making a strong case in favor of immigration. But in this moment, there seems to be some early signs of coalescing about how Democrats should talk about this. Joel Payne's a Democratic strategist. He says that he's starting to see some Democrats talk about it in a way that he thinks is politically palatable.
JOEL PAYNE: The American people, I think, want a Democratic Party that understands the value of managing the border, but also does not abandon the value of supporting and uplifting immigrant communities.
MONTANARO: Saikat Chakrabarti is a former chief of staff to Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. He is running for Congress in San Francisco against former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He thinks in general that Democrats have to fight harder on most things. But on immigration, he said he thinks that the party and people like California Governor Gavin Newsom are striking the right tone.
SAIKAT CHAKRABARTI: I don't think anybody in the country sees a - you know, a mom getting picked up from a school pickup line by masked agents in unmarked vans and think, ah, yeah, that's what I voted for. That's what I want. That's humane. I don't think that matters if you're progressive, moderate or Republican. I think that's just basic common sense about where we want the country to be.
MONTANARO: You know, with the deportation policy shift toward workplaces, the narrative from Republicans is changing from one about border security to targeting criminals, which polls very well, to something very different. And the further Trump goes, Democrats feel like the easier it is for them to have a message and appear to be united on this.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Domenico Montanaro. Domenico, thank you.
MONTANARO: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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