ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Who belongs and who doesn't in the United States? A new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll sheds some light on how Americans answer that question. The survey also looks at how people are feeling about the state of democracy, the political parties and the job President Trump is doing. That includes his deportation policies, whether he should follow court orders and foreign policy. NPR senior political editor and correspondent Domenico Montanaro has been going through the results of the survey. Hey, Domenico.
DOMENICO MONTANARO, BYLINE: Hey, Ari.
SHAPIRO: I just rattled off so many things. Big picture...
MONTANARO: (Laughter).
SHAPIRO: ...How would you say - based on this survey - Americans are feeling about the country?
MONTANARO: Well, it seems people are pretty uneasy. I mean, three-quarters say that they think American democracy is under threat, and that politically motivated violence is a major problem. They're also not confident in the country's political leadership. President Trump gets just a 43% job approval rating overall. And the political parties fare worse than that. Congressional Republicans get a 35% rating, and the alternative Democrats are at their lowest point in several years with just a 27% approval, mostly because a lot of Democrats themselves don't like the job that their party is doing in Congress.
SHAPIRO: Bleak for everyone. Let's dig into some of what President Trump is doing. Obviously, deportations are a big part of his agenda. What do people say about his immigration policies?
MONTANARO: Yeah, Trump's handling of immigration mirrors his overall rating - just 43% approve, 52% disapprove. And that's as good as it gets for Trump. His handling of foreign policy is 41%, the economy just 39%. As for deportations themselves, again, that number 43% think they're making the country safer. A third say they're making the country less safe, and a pretty sizable chunk - a quarter of all of the almost 1,400 respondents - say they're not having an impact either way. That means the book is still out for a lot of people on those deportations and how they're conducted.
SHAPIRO: Is there any more detail on who people think should and should not be targeted?
MONTANARO: First, there's broad consensus in favor of deporting those convicted of violent crimes who are in the country without permanent legal status - 80% say they're in favor of removing them. There's still majority support for deporting nonviolent criminals, 58%. But after that is where it gets tricky for Trump. You know, people are split down the middle on whether to kick out those who have overstayed student visas, and there's majority opposition to deporting workers like those in the food and agricultural industries. In fact, Trump says there should be some carve-out for them. Here he was on Fox News on Sunday.
(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "FOX NEWS")
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We're working on it right now. We're going to work it so that some kind of a temporary pass, where people pay taxes, where the farmer can have a little control, as opposed to you walk in and take everybody away.
SHAPIRO: But some of those people are being deported. So what is President Trump talking about there with this temporary pass?
MONTANARO: Yeah. There's a real disconnect between what Trump is saying versus what the administration is doing. We've heard nothing concrete about limiting enforcement, and we know that ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, has been rounding up people who are not just criminals but, in fact, workers never convicted of any crime, something the administration admits. Homeland Security has said in a statement that worksite enforcement remains a cornerstone of their efforts. So I'm not sure the message has really trickled down or even if Trump's comments might just be public relations, given there's less support for deporting people just doing their jobs but who are in the country without authorization. When it comes to ICE, by the way, 54% of those surveyed think that they've gone too far in how they're enforcing immigration laws.
SHAPIRO: This poll also asked about courts. Lots of court cases have challenged Trump's policies. He's won some and lost others. What does the poll show about the way he's reacted to those rulings?
MONTANARO: Well, overwhelmingly, 82% think that a president should follow court orders, even ones he or she doesn't like. There was a little wiggle room from Republicans, though, in just 22% of them felt strongly about that compared to majorities of Democrats and independents.
SHAPIRO: And on foreign policy, how do survey respondents say they feel about the U.S. strikes on Iran's nuclear facilities?
MONTANARO: Yeah, people are split pretty evenly on the attacks. Majorities of Democrats and independents disagree with them, but more than 8 in 10 Republicans support those strikes. But no one might be happier that this isn't dominating the news anymore than Trump because there are lots of people in his base who just don't want to get stuck in another prolonged conflict in the Middle East.
SHAPIRO: NPR's Domenico Montanaro, thank you.
MONTANARO: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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