According to the CBS News survey, 57 percent of Americans think a temporary ban on refugees clashes with the founding principles of the United States. Among Republicans, however, nearly seven in 10 see a ban as consistent with the country’s founding principles. And who opposed Trump’s immigration and refugee orders in the same survey? Democrats and a majority of independents, the survey found.

Like many of his predecessors, Trump and his senior political advisers comb through public opinion surveys to assess the public mood, including data analyzed by media outlets. The information influences White House communications, and there have been clues in the last two weeks suggesting that voter sentiments help shape how and when policy decisions are announced in the West Wing.

For example, Trump gauged reactions to his immigration orders, which temporarily halted the U.S. acceptance of some refugees and international travelers from seven primarily Muslim countries. While defending his actions against criticism from demonstrators, international heads of state, and members of Congress from both parties, Trump referred to his policy as a “ban,” while his spokesman later argued the result was not a travel ban or ban on Muslims seeking to enter the United States from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.