Poll: Majority opposes Trump’s decision to pardon Arpaio

A majority of Americans surveyed disapproves of President Trump’s decision to pardon former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Arizona, according to a new survey.

An NBC News/SurveyMonkey poll finds about 60 percent of respondents said it was “wrong” to pardon Arpaio.

About one-third of respondents, 34 percent, disagree.

{mosads}Trump last week pardoned Arpaio, who was convicted of criminal contempt for disobeying a federal judge’s order on detaining individuals suspected of being in the U.S. illegally. 

The White House in a statement late last week praised Arpaio for his service to the country and called him a “worthy candidate for a Presidential pardon.”

The poll, released Thursday morning, also found a majority of Americans support the Obama-era program to shield young immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children from deportation.

Sixty-four percent of respondents support the program, known as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), while 30 percent oppose it.

Nearly 800,000 immigrants brought to the country illegally as children have been granted temporary work permits and deferral from deportation under DACA.

The online poll was conducted from Aug. 24 to 29 among 10,129 adults. The margin of error is 1.4 percentage points.