More than half of U.S. voters in a new poll reject President-elect Donald Trump’s long-standing promise to build a wall along the Mexican border.
Fifty-five percent oppose the controversial proposed barrier in the Quinnipiac University survey released Wednesday.
{mosads}Forty-two percent support the structure, which became a signature pledge from Trump on the campaign trail.
Pollsters also found voters have mixed feelings about Trump’s vow to deport undocumented immigrants.
Sixty-percent think they should be allowed to stay in the U.S. and ultimately apply for citizenship. Twelve percent said they should remain in the homeland without a path to citizenship, meanwhile, and 25 percent believe they should leave the country.
Trump’s call to suspend immigration from nations struggling with terrorism had the most support in the new poll.
Fifty percent support that policy, even if it involves turning away refugees from such nations, and 44 percent oppose it.
Trump made border security and combating illegal immigration central messages of his presidential campaign.
The billionaire has frequently vowed Mexico will pay for a wall along America’s southern border, a measure critics say is costly, impractical and would hurt ties between both nations.
Trump admitted last week, however, that he would consider fencing for some portions of the boundary.
The president-elect added he would immediately deport or incarcerate as many as 3 million people in the country illegally who he said had committed crimes here.
After the border is “secure,” Trump said on Nov. 13, his administration will start making a “determination” about how to handle remaining undocumented immigrants.
Quinnipiac University conducted its latest survey of 1,071 voters nationwide via cellphone and telephone interviews from Nov. 17 to 20. It has a 3 percentage point margin of error.