Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship draws more disapproval than approval

The day he returned to the White House in January, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that would redefine birthright citizenship. The order argues that children born in the United States are citizens only if they have at least one parent who is a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident. Trump’s directive would mark a significant shift from how birthright citizenship has been applied for more than 150 years in the U.S., and it is currently being challenged in multiple federal courts.

How we did this

Pew Research Center conducted this analysis to understand the public’s views of President Donald Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship.

For this analysis, we surveyed 5,086 adults from Jan. 27 to Feb. 2, 2025. Everyone who took part in this survey is a member of the Center’s American Trends Panel (ATP), an online survey panel that is recruited through national, random sampling of residential addresses. This way nearly all U.S. adults have a chance of selection. The survey is weighted to be representative of the U.S. adult population by gender, race, ethnicity, partisan affiliation, education and other categories. Read more about the ATP’s methodology.

Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.

Overall, 56% of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, while 43% approve, according to a new Pew Research Center survey. Disapproval is also stronger than approval: 40% of adults strongly disapprove, while 23% strongly approve.

Most Democrats disapprove of the order, while most Republicans approve of it. Yet Democratic disapproval is more widespread and more intense than Republican approval.

• 84% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents disapprove of the order, including 68% who strongly disapprove.
• 72% of Republicans and Republican leaners approve of the executive order, including 42% who strongly approve.

Views of executive order vary by race and ethnicity, age

Race and ethnicity

Black, Hispanic and Asian adults are more likely to disapprove than approve of Trump’s order on citizenship.

Disapproval is particularly widespread among Black (74%) and Hispanic (70%) adults. A narrower majority of Asian adults (56%) also disapprove. (Estimates for Asian adults are representative of English speakers only.)

White adults are split on the executive order: 51% approve and 49% disapprove.

Age

Adults under 30 are the least likely age group to approve of Trump’s executive order: Just 36% approve, while 63% disapprove. Those ages 30 to 49 are also less likely to approve than disapprove of the order (41% vs. 59%).

Views are about equally divided among adults ages 50 and older: 48% approve, 52% disapprove.

Among Republicans, approval of executive order differs by race and ethnicity, age

Across racial and ethnic and age groups, Republicans generally approve of Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship, while Democrats across these groups do not.

Race and ethnicity

Among Republicans, there are differences in views by race and ethnicity. While 77% of White Republicans approve of the order, that drops to 63% among Asian Republicans and 53% among Hispanic Republicans. (Estimates are not available for Black Republicans due to sample size.)

Democrats overwhelmingly disapprove of Trump’s order regardless of race or ethnicity. Only about three-in-ten Asian Democrats (29%) and two-in-ten Black Democrats (20%) say they approve. Even smaller shares of White (14%) and Hispanic (12%) Democrats say the same.

Age

Majorities of Republicans across age groups approve of Trump’s order. But Republicans under 30 are less likely than older Republicans to do so: 59% approve, compared with 71% of those ages 30 to 49 and 78% of those 50 and older.

There are virtually no age differences in these views among Democrats.

Note: Here are the questions used for this analysis, along with responses, and its methodology.