Current polling strongly suggests that most Americans' views on illegal immigration align with President Donald Trump's mass deportation plans for foreign nationals, CNN senior data reporter Harry Enten said Wednesday.

Enten pointed to a "massive shift" in the opinions of American voters, saying they have become less welcoming when it comes to illegal immigration in recent years. He claimed that a majority of voters will likely give Trump the necessary latitude to carry out raids and deportations, as well as curb levels of illegal immigration overall.

"Feelings towards undocumented immigrants and deporting all of them have become considerably more hawkish," Enten said in comments highlighted by Mediaite. "And I think that gives Donald Trump much more leverage to go with the American people and sort of have these hawkish, some might say harsh, different rhetoric and also issue-based, sort of going after immigrants who are here illegally. And so I think the American people are going to give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt to do what he wants to do."

More than 50% support deporting all illegal aliens, according to 2024 polling from The New York Times, Marquette, CBS News and ABC News. The Marquette survey found the most support at 64%, while the Times found the least support for deportations at 55%.

"What you're seeing, essentially, here is a very clear indication that a majority of Americans, in fact, when they're asked this blunt question, which I believe gets at the underlying feelings, do, in fact want to deport all immigrants who are here illegally," Enten said. "There's no arguing with these different numbers, because they're all essentially the same across four different pollsters."

He then referenced ABC polling averages over a number of years which showed an increase in the share of those favoring mass deportations. Beginning in 2016, with 36% supporting deportations, the share rose 20 percentage points in eight years, hitting 56% in 2024.

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