Just 39 percent of those polled said they approve of President Donald Trump’s handling of immigration. | Chris Kleponis/Getty Images Poll: 58 percent disapprove of Trump's handling of immigration

More than half of American voters surveyed by Quinnipiac University for a recent poll said they disapprove of the way President Donald Trump has handled immigration.

Just 39 percent of those polled said they approve of Trump’s handling of immigration, while 58 percent said they disapprove. But 50 percent of respondents said they believe the motive behind the president’s immigration policies is “a sincere interest in controlling our borders."


Similarly, 47 percent of those polled said they do not believe the president is racist, compared with 49 percent who said he is. Forty-four percent of respondents said the motive for his immigration policies is “racist beliefs.”

Trump’s immigration policies have drawn significant scrutiny in recent weeks thanks to the administration’s move to refer all illegal border-crossers for prosecution, a step that resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents. Trump administration officials initially described the practice as a deterrent against illegal immigration but later said that separating families had merely been a consequence of enforcing the law, not an intended outcome.

After days of pressure, Trump signed an executive order ending the practice of family separation, but it is unclear what effect the order has had and how quickly the separated families are being reunited. Sixty percent of respondents to the Quinnipiac poll said the separation of families was a violation of human rights, and 83 percent said the Trump administration has a responsibility to reunite the separated families.

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Trump, who has insisted that any immigration legislation be included in a larger reform package that also includes money for a border wall and the end of certain legal immigration programs, has complained often that Democrats in Congress are unwilling to find a solution on immigration because they want to campaign on the issue.

Sixty percent of voters polled agreed with the president’s argument that Democrats are more interested in "exploiting the nation's immigration issue for political gain,” compared to 34 percent of respondents who said Democrats are more interested in "resolving the nation's immigration issue."

The Quinnipiac University poll was conducted via landlines and cellphones in both Spanish and English, contacting 1,020 registered voters nationwide. The poll’s margin of error is plus or minus 3.7 points.

