Trump’s Travel Ban: Fewer Than 30% of Americans Support It

The last five days of political and travel coverage have been dominated by an executive order passed by United States President Donald Trump that acted as a travel ban to nationals from seven Muslim-majority nations.

The Trump Travel Ban, as it has quickly became known, is perhaps more significant as a symbol than it is a piece of law (despite the real-world costs of the new rule). It’s been contested by judges and courts around the country, while also been a source of contention between airlines, airports, Customs and Borders officials, and passengers from around the world.

So we decided to ask people a simple question: “Do you support President Trump’s directive for travel ban from select Muslim countries to America?”

And while the Trump administration is now saying this is not a “ban” despite saying this was indeed a ban for three days, we’ve seen that consumers have responded to the “ban” label that the administration and press have put on it.

Important: This survey — not served to Skift users — was administered to 1,502 members of the U.S. adult internet population January 29-31, 2017, through Google Consumer Surveys. The methodology is explained here.

By whatever name, supporters of the ban are in the minority. Just shy of half the respondents don’t support the president, while less than an third support it and less than a fifth don’t care or prefer not to say.

By Region

The Northeast and the West were the least likely to support the ban, but the difference by region is not nearly as great as the difference we see by age (see below). The most supportive region to the president’s cause is the Midwest, which is also less likely to not support the ban than any of the other three regions. The South, in fact, is less likely to support the ban than men as a whole demographic (also, see below).

By Gender

There’s more than a 6% difference separating men and women when it comes to not supporting the travel ban, with women less likely to support it. There’s more than 11% difference between men and women when it comes to supporting it, with men more likely to support the ban, yet still in the minority.

By Age

Trump is not getting the youth vote here. The biggest opposition to the ban comes from 18 to 24-year-olds, followed by 25 to 34 – both with survey highs of 68.1% and 63.9%, respectively. The most support for the ban comes from 55 to 64-year-olds, at nearly 44% – the highest support among any demographic measured. Alongside 45 to 54-year-olds, this is the only demo where more people supported it than did not. While the 65+ group had a higher percentage of supporters, more of them overall didn’t support the ban.