New polling shows that a majority of U.S. voters support President Donald Trump’s decision to deploy the National Guard to Los Angeles.
A survey conducted Monday by RMG Research among 1,000 registered voters found that 52% either “strongly” or “somewhat” approve of Trump’s move to send troops in response to the ongoing street protests.
Meanwhile, 42% said they disapprove of the deployment, and 7% remain undecided, the Daily Signal first reported.
Riots erupted in Los Angeles on Friday in response to Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations, prompting President Trump to initially deploy 2,000 National Guard troops, with an additional 2,000 sent later. The unrest continued into Monday night, resulting in the arrest of over 100 rioters.
In this deployment, the National Guard’s primary mission is to safeguard federal property and protect federal personnel.
When voters were asked if they “approve or disapprove of the efforts by immigration officials … to find and arrest illegal immigrants in Los Angeles,” 57% of participants said they either strongly approve or somewhat approve, and 35% disapprove, while 9% are not sure, the outlet said.
Trump declared on Tuesday that Los Angeles would be “burning to the ground” if he had not ordered National Guard troops to assist in recent anti-ICE demonstrations. He then went on to criticize California Gov. Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, both of whom are Democrats, for their handling of the L.A. wildfires earlier this year.
“If I didn’t ‘SEND IN THE TROOPS’ to Los Angeles the last three nights, that once beautiful and great City would be burning to the ground right now, much like 25,000 houses burned to the ground in L.A. [due] to an incompetent Governor and Mayor – Incidentally, the much more difficult, time consuming, and stringent FEDERAL PERMITTING PROCESS is virtually complete on these houses, while the easy and simple City and State Permits are disastrously bungled up and WAY BEHIND SCHEDULE! They are a total mess, and will be for a long time. People want to rebuild their houses. Call your incompetent Governor and Mayor, the Federal permitting is DONE!!!” Trump wrote.
Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman also broke with a majority of fellow Democrats over their defense of the L.A. riots and attempts to blame Trump.
On Monday, Fetterman took to social media to criticize Democrats for prioritizing illegal aliens over federal immigration officials who enforce the law against those in the U.S. illegally, particularly those convicted of serious crimes.
In an X post that contained photos of violence stemming from riots in Los Angeles that have rocked the city for days, the Pennsylvania freshman senator stressed that he supported peaceful protests, not attacks on law enforcement and property destruction.
“I unapologetically stand for free speech, peaceful demonstrations, and immigration—but this is not that,” Fetterman wrote. “This is anarchy and true chaos. My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement.”
Meanwhile, Attorney General Pam Bondi has sent a clear message to those rioting and protesting against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deportations in L.A.
During an interview on Fox News with anchor Sean Hannity, Bondi said Los Angeles “looks like a Third World country” amid riots and mayhem in the city over President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“What we’re going to do is we are going to enforce the law, regardless of what they do. Look at it out there, it looks like a Third World country, and it’s not. It’s the United States of America. We are not standing for it,” Bondi said.
The attorney general went on to announce that the Department of Justice would federally prosecute people who assault state and federal law enforcement officers.