A majority of likely voters support President Donald Trump’s call for a new census, according to a new Rasmussen Reports poll.
The survey found that 57% of likely voters approve of Trump’s proposal, including 36% who said they “strongly approve.” Just 34% said they disapprove, and 24% “strongly disapprove.”
When asked specifically about whether illegal immigrants should be excluded from the census count, 52% of likely voters agreed, while 36% disagreed and 11% were unsure.
“Among voters who don’t think illegal immigrants should be counted in the census, 74% approve of Trump’s decision to order a new census: 83% of Republicans, 43% of Democrats and 49% of voters not affiliated with either major party at least somewhat approve of Trump ordering a new census,” Rasmussen reported.
Nearly half of Democrats, 49%, said they believe illegal immigrants should be included in the census. But solid majorities of Republicans (65%) and unaffiliated voters (57%) said they should not.
The divide was also clear along 2024 voting lines. Rasmussen found that 52% of Kamala Harris voters think the census should count illegal immigrants, while 70% of Trump voters said they should not.
The poll surveyed 1,184 likely voters between Aug. 11–13. The margin of error is plus or minus three percentage points.
The release of the polling comes just days after Trump announced he had instructed his administration to begin work on what he called a “new” census.
In a social media post, Trump said the new census would exclude millions of people living in the country without legal status — an unprecedented change from how the census has been conducted since the first count in 1790, NPR reported.
He said he directed the Commerce Department, which oversees the Census Bureau, to “immediately begin work” on a census using “the results and information gained from the Presidential Election of 2024.” He did not explain why election results would matter.
The White House press office did not respond to requests for comment.
The Commerce Department released a statement saying: “The Census Bureau will immediately adopt modern technology tools for use in the Census to better understand our robust Census data. We will accurately analyze the data to reflect the number of legal residents in the United States.”
Under Article 1 of the Constitution, it is Congress — not the president — that has authority over the census. Federal law requires a census every 10 years to redistribute congressional seats and Electoral College votes. The 14th Amendment mandates that the “whole number of persons in each state” be counted for apportionment.
