Californians are sharply divided over ICE raids

Most Democratic voters oppose mass deportations, poll says. Not so in GOP.

- BY SEEMA MEHTA AND BRITTNY MEJIA

CARLIN STIEHL Los Angeles Time BRIAN GAVIDIA, a business owner, supported Donald Trump in 2024 but has become disgusted by raids.

California voters are sharply divided along partisan lines over the Trump administration’s immigration raids this year in Los Angeles and across the nation, according to a new poll.

Just over half of the state's registered voters oppose federal efforts to reduce undocumented immigration, and 61% are against deporting everyone in the nation who doesn't have legal status, according to the poll by UC Berkeley's Possibility Lab released to The Times on Wednesday.

But there is an acute difference in opinions based on political leanings.

Nearly 80% of Democrats oppose reducing the number of people entering the United States illegally, and 90% are against deporting everyone in the country who is undocumented, according to the poll. Among Republicans, 5% are against reducing the entries and 10% don't believe all undocumented immigrants should be forced to leave.

"The big thing that we find, not surprisingly, is that Democrats and Republicans look really different," said political scientist Amy Lerman, director of the Possibility Lab, who studies race, public opinion and political behavior. "On these perspectives, they fall pretty clearly along party lines. While there's some variation within the parties by things like age and race, really, the big divide is between Democrats and Republicans."

While there were some differences based on gender, age, income, geography and race, the results largely mirrored the partisan divide in the state, Lerman said.

One remarkable finding was that nearly a quarter of survey respondents personally knew or were acquainted with someone in their family or friend groups directly affected by the deportation efforts, Lerman said.