Recent reports that White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair urged House Republicans to stop discussing “mass deportations” came as a surprise to many in the MAGA movement. After all, President Trump campaigned on the explicit promise to “conduct the largest mass deportation operation” in U.S. history.
A new poll of likely voters, commissioned by the Immigration Accountability Project and conducted by McLaughlin & Associates, confirms that this promise was a primary motivator for Trump voters in 2024. Furthermore, it remains a decisive factor for the upcoming 2026 midterm elections.
In short, the president’s base does not merely support mass deportations; they expect them. If he fails to deliver, these voters may simply stay home in November.
The data reveals a deep hunger for enforcement among the president’s supporters:
82 percent of Trump voters stated that his mass deportation promise made them more likely to vote for him in 2024;
86.7 percent of Trump voters want the current administration to exceed the efforts of the Eisenhower administration, which oversaw the removal of approximately one-third of the illegal alien population; and
74 percent of Trump voters say they are more likely to support Republican congressional candidates in the 2026 midterms if the administration achieves at least one million deportations this year.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member