Poll: Half of American voters back Trump’s Muslim ban

A new poll shows that 50 percent of all American voters support a temporary ban on Muslims traveling to the U.S. — an idea originally proposed by GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump.  

While 71 percent of Republican voters supported the ban, 34 percent of likely Democratic voters and 49 percent of independents also did, according to the new poll by Morning Consult. 

{mosads}Although support for the ban is highest among Trump’s supporters, at 84 percent, there is also support for a ban among those who support fellow GOP candidates Ted Cruz and John Kasich — at 65 percent and 48 percent, respectively.

Among Democrats, more Hillary Clinton supporters agreed with the travel ban, at 37 percent, versus 27 percent of Bernie Sanders’s supporters.  

A “virtual majority” of American voters — 49 percent — also agrees with Cruz’s call for additional law enforcement patrols of Muslim neighborhoods in the U.S., the poll showed. 

Seventy percent of Republicans agreed with increased patrols, compared with 35 percent of Democrats and 46 percent of independents. 

Almost half of voters — 45 percent — also said they support the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, such as waterboarding, against suspected terrorists in order to defeat the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) — another idea touted by Trump. 

However, 34 percent said the U.S. could win the fight against ISIS without using enhanced interrogation techniques, including torture. About 21 percent didn’t know or had no opinion. Trump’s call for the use of torture has been criticized by current and retired military leaders who say it would violate the Geneva Convention. 

The new poll follows one published Monday by the Morning Consult that showed that after last week’s terrorists attacks in Brussels, more American voters said security issues are their top concern in the 2016 presidential election. 

Tuesday’s poll also showed that an overwhelming majority of voters support requiring tech companies such as Apple, Google and Facebook to give the government access to their personal data to support U.S. national security interests. 

Seventy-six percent also thought companies should help the government in investigations related to terrorism and in monitoring the accounts of people suspected of being terrorists. 

Two-thirds of voters thought companies should turn over personal data to the government in order to help identify people who may be terrorists.  

Voters also backed increasing security at airports and are not opposed to paying more out of their pockets to do so.

Large majorities also said they support adding a layer of security outside of airports (78 percent); increasing federal funding for the Transportation Security Administration (75 percent); and increasing the training TSA agents receive (84 percent). 

Large majorities also said they would increase federal funding for background checks on airports (81 percent) and increase federal funding for additional security on the perimeters of airports, such as higher fences and regular patrols. 

The Morning Consult tracking poll, which surveyed 2,071 registered voters between March 24 and 26, has a margin of error of  2 percentage points.