More than a year into President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown, a new poll finds that rural voters are divided on whether those policies have benefited or harmed their communities.
In the Associated Press-KFF survey of more than 2,000 rural voters in August, about a third said the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement had been positive for their community and about a third said it had been negative. The remaining three in 10 said it had no impact.
The MAGA Base
Trump promised tough enforcement on the campaign trail in 2024, and the survey highlights how a cornerstone of his base — rural supporters of his MAGA movement — are especially likely to say they see a benefit where they live from the president’s stringent immigration policies.
About two-thirds of rural MAGA Republicans say Trump’s immigration policies have had a positive impact where they live. Roughly half say the administration has “not gone far enough” on deporting immigrants in the country illegally.
The Economic Reality
Yet many rural voters also say immigrants are a key part of their local economies, and some believe Trump’s immigration actions have gone too far.
About 7 in 10 rural voters see immigrants who are in the country legally as “very” or “somewhat” important to their local economies, and a similar share say the same about temporary or seasonal agriculture workers.
Shannon Monnat, director of the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University, said immigration has been a demographic lifeline for much of rural America. “For a lot of small towns, immigrants are the reason the school and hospital stayed open and the county didn’t shrink,” she said.
The Human Cost
Laura Leigh Taylor, a 37-year-old farmer who voted for Trump in 2024, said she disapproves of the wide-ranging scope of the crackdown, which resulted in a friend’s father being deported.
“I understand getting rid of the rapists and the murderers,” she said. “But all the people that fell in between that really weren’t doing nothing but taking care of their family.” Taylor now regrets her vote for Trump and plans to vote for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November.
Jeff Miller, a 56-year-old Republican from Racine, Ohio, has mostly been pleased with Trump’s agenda. But he blames the aggressive immigration policy for the deportation of a “really good worker” and friend. “There’s kind of an up-and-down thing because I lost a really good friend over that,” he said.
The Political Stakes
Roughly three-quarters of rural voters say it’s “extremely” or “very” important for midterm candidates to talk about immigration, though that’s lower than the share who want them to address the cost of living, fraud in government programs, or healthcare costs.
Only about 4 in 10 rural voters say Trump has “gone too far” in restricting legal immigration or deporting immigrants living in the US without authorization, below the 55% of US adults overall who said the same in a September AP-NORC poll.
The Bottom Line
An AP-KFF poll finds rural voters are divided on Trump’s immigration crackdown. About a third say it has helped their communities, a third say it has hurt, and three in 10 see no impact. Rural MAGA Republicans overwhelmingly support the policies, but many rural voters acknowledge immigrants are vital to local economies. Some Trump voters say the crackdown has gone too far, with deportations affecting friends and workers. Immigration remains a key issue for rural voters ahead of the midterms.
My Opinion
The poll reveals something the national conversation often misses: rural America is not a monolith. It is not a sea of MAGA hats. It is a complicated place where people voted for Trump, support his border policies, and still grieve the deportation of a friend.
Laura Leigh Taylor voted for Trump. Now she regrets it. She said she understands going after “the rapists and the murderers.” But she watched her friend’s father get deported. That is not a political abstraction. That is a family torn apart. Jeff Miller is a Republican who lost a “really good worker” and a friend. He blames the aggressive enforcement. He is not alone.
The economic reality is even more stark. Seven in 10 rural voters say immigrants are important to their local economies. In small towns across America, immigrants keep schools open and hospitals staffed. They work the farms that feed the country. Deporting them is not just cruel. It is self-destructive.
Trump’s base still supports him. But the cracks are showing. And in a midterm election where rural voters could determine control of Congress, those cracks matter.
