Rasmussen: More than half back Trump’s refugee ban

More than half of likely voters polled by the right-leaning firm Rasmussen Reports support President Trump banning refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations entering the U.S., according to a new poll.

Trump signed a controversial executive order on Friday imposing a 90-day freeze on all entries from Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also suspended general refugee admissions into the U.S. for 120 days and imposes an indefinite suspension of admission of Syrian refugees.

Fifty-seven percent said they favor a temporary halt on refugees from the seven listed countries in the new poll issued Monday.

{mosads}Thirty-three percent opposed such actions, while another 10 percent remain undecided.

Monday’s results also showed that more half of the respondents support a short-term pause on issuing visas to residents of the seven countries.

Fifty-six percent back such a temporary ban until the government improves its ability to screen for likely terrorists, Rasmussen said. Thirty-two percent oppose the measure, while 11 percent remain undecided.

Trump’s executive order is aimed at providing a thorough vetting of refugees to ensure that “radical Islamic terrorists” cannot infiltrate the U.S., according to the administration. 

“We don’t want them here,” Trump said of extremists during a Friday signing ceremony at the Pentagon.

“We want to ensure that we are not admitting into our country the very threats our soldiers are fighting overseas. We only want to admit those into our country who support our country and love deeply our people.”

Trump’s temporary ban targets the seven nations as “countries of particular concern” for terrorism.

His order has since inspired fierce global debate, with Democrats and human rights groups arguing it is unconstitutional and unfairly targets Muslims.

The president on Sunday rejected those criticisms, arguing that his move is necessary for national security.

“To be clear, this is not a Muslim ban as the media is falsely reporting,” he said in a statement. “This is not about religion — this is about terror and keeping our country safe.”

Rasmussen conducted its latest survey of 1,000 likely voters via telephone interviews from Jan. 25 to Jan. 26. It has a 3 percent margin of error.