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Many rural voters say immigrants are a key part of their local economy, but views on whether the president鈥檚 immigration crackdown has had positive or negative effects on their communities are split.
More than a year into President Donald Trump鈥檚 sweeping immigration crackdown, a poll finds that voters in rural parts of the country are divided on whether those immigration policies have benefited or harmed their communities.
In the Associated Press-51视频 survey of more than 2,000 rural voters in August, about a third said the Trump administration鈥檚 immigration enforcement had been positive for their community and about a third said it had been negative. The remaining 3 in 10, roughly, said it had no impact.
Trump promised tough enforcement on the campaign trail in 2024, and the survey highlights how a cornerstone of his base, rural supporters of his Make America Great Again movement, are especially likely to say they see a benefit where they live from the Republican president’s stringent immigration policies.
Yet many rural voters also say immigrants are a key part of their local economies, and some believe Trump鈥檚 immigration actions have gone too far.
Laura Leigh Taylor, a 37-year-old farmer who voted for Trump in 2024, said she disapproves of the wide-ranging scope of Trump鈥檚 immigration crackdown, which resulted in a friend鈥檚 hardworking father being deported.
鈥淚 understand getting rid of the rapists and the murderers,鈥 she said. 鈥淏ut all the people that fell in between, that really weren’t doing nothing but taking care of their family, … they got torn from their families.鈥
Taylor now regrets her vote for Trump. As a resident of Smithville, Georgia, a town of about 600, Taylor thinks she will vote for Democratic Sen. Jon Ossoff in November because, she said, the Democrats have been the ones talking about families being uprooted by Trump鈥檚 immigration enforcement.
鈥淛ust because of that simple fact, I’m going to go with him,鈥 Taylor said.
Most Rural Voters Want Politicians To Talk About Immigration
Roughly three-quarters of rural voters say it鈥檚 鈥渆xtremely鈥 or 鈥渧ery鈥 important for midterm candidates to talk about immigration, though that鈥檚 lower than the share who want them to address the cost of living, fraud in government programs, or healthcare costs.
Rural voters don鈥檛 overwhelmingly think Trump鈥檚 immigration policies have helped their communities, but they are also less likely than the general public to say that Trump has overstepped in his efforts, which have involved mass deportations and rapid deportations of immigrants to countries where they have no ties.
Only about 4 in 10 rural voters say Trump has 鈥済one too far鈥 in restricting legal immigration or deporting immigrants living in the U.S. without authorization, below the 55% of U.S. adults overall who said the same in a September AP-NORC poll.
John Thomas, a 55-year-old from Liberty, Kentucky, supports Trump鈥檚 efforts to deport people without legal status. Thomas, who has just been approved for disability benefits after injuring his back in 2008, believes they put too much of a burden on the healthcare system. Regulating immigration, he said, is a means of providing better healthcare to Americans.
鈥淭hey’ve been taking from everybody,鈥 Thomas said of immigrants. 鈥淧eople that really need this stuff can’t get it because of them.鈥
David Grabowski, a professor of healthcare policy at Harvard Medical School, said that research suggests immigrants use less healthcare than native-born Americans. 鈥淚t is hard to argue that they are placing an undue burden on the system,鈥 he said, because many immigrants work in healthcare and pay taxes.
President Donald Trump has championed sprawling health policy changes under the Make America Healthy Again movement, but a 51视频-Associated Press survey of rural voters found people aren鈥檛 seeing the initiatives reach their communities.
Most Rural Voters See Immigrants’ Economic Importance
Immigrants often play key roles in sustaining local industries, including by filling jobs in manufacturing, healthcare, and agriculture. The survey suggests the vast majority of rural voters see immigrants in the country legally as an important part of their local economies.
Shannon Monnat, director of the Center for Policy Research at Syracuse University and president of the Rural Sociological Society, said immigration has been a demographic lifeline for much of rural America. Rural areas have been losing young adults for years, she said.
鈥淔or a lot of small towns, immigrants are the reason the school and hospital stayed open and the county didn鈥檛 shrink,鈥 Monnat said.
About 7 in 10 rural voters see immigrants who are in the country legally as 鈥渧ery鈥 or 鈥渟omewhat鈥 important to their local economies, and a similar share say the same about temporary or seasonal agriculture workers. Hundreds of thousands of immigrants take seasonal jobs on U.S. farms each year, with most of them coming from Mexico, on H-2A visas.
Rural voters with a connection to agriculture and farming are more likely than those without one to say that temporary or seasonal workers are 鈥渧ery important鈥 to their local economies, the poll found.
Jeff Miller, a 56-year-old Republican hydro blaster and vacuum technician, has mostly been pleased with Trump鈥檚 agenda, and he believes things are 鈥渉eading in the right direction.鈥 The one thing Miller has struggled with is Trump鈥檚 aggressive immigration policy, which he blames for the deportation of a 鈥渞eally good worker鈥 and friend, who was removed from the U.S. when his work permit expired.
Miller, from Racine, Ohio, said he would support exceptions for hard workers, or just a less aggressive approach.
鈥淭here’s kind of an up-and-down thing because I lost a really good friend over that,鈥 Miller said.
Rural voters are much less likely to say immigrants who are in the country illegally are beneficial, but 45% say they are at least 鈥渟omewhat鈥 important to local economies.
Albert Martinez, a 70-year-old Democrat from San Diego, Texas, voted for Trump in 2016, but he now believes the Trump administration has 鈥済one amok.鈥 The Army veteran said he is a proponent of getting criminals out of the country, but that is not what he is seeing happening with current immigration enforcement.
鈥淭hey started doing everybody across the board,鈥 Martinez said. 鈥淚nnocent kids and women, people who work in restaurants, people who work in hotels, people who are building homes, people who are doing masonry work, and innocent, good, taxpaying people. Taxpayers. It鈥檚 insane.鈥
Rural voters rank the cost of living and cost of healthcare as top issues they want to hear about from midterm candidates as they face a tightening pocketbook pinch.
Rural MAGA Voters Support Trump鈥檚 Immigration Policies
Some of Trump鈥檚 most loyal supporters 鈥 rural Republicans who consider themselves MAGA supporters 鈥 are about twice as likely as rural, non-MAGA Republicans to see a benefit to Trump鈥檚 immigration policies where they live.
Roughly 4 in 10 rural voters identify as MAGA Republicans, while about 1 in 10 are Republicans but not MAGA supporters.
About two-thirds of rural MAGA Republicans say Trump鈥檚 immigration policies have had a positive impact where they live. Roughly half say the Trump administration has 鈥渘ot gone far enough鈥 on deporting immigrants in the country illegally, while about half say his actions have been 鈥渁bout right.鈥
Katherine Reed, a 27-year-old Republican who supports the MAGA movement, has been pleased to see the Trump administration鈥檚 deportation policies play out. The resident of Mount Pleasant, Texas, believes her community has always been safe but that the administration鈥檚 policies have had a positive impact by reducing violent crime nationwide, saying, 鈥淚t’s made life for people a lot safer.鈥
She believes if someone comes to America, they should 鈥渞espect the law of the land” and 鈥渄o it legally.鈥
鈥淚 want really amazing people to become Americans,鈥 Reed said. 鈥淭hat’s the whole point of America.鈥
About the Poll
The 51视频-AP Rural Voters Survey was conducted online and by telephone Aug. 12-24, 2026, among 2,241 registered voters living in rural areas, defined as census tracts that fall within codes 5-10 of the U.S. Department of Agriculture鈥檚 2020 Rural-Urban Commuting Area codes. Voters were reached through a combination of the probability-based SSRS Opinion Panel and a registration-based sample from the L2 voter file. Overall results have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points, including design effects due to weighting. Error margins are larger for subgroups. In collaboration with the AP, 51视频 researchers worked to design the survey sample and questionnaire and analyze and report findings.
This report is from a collaboration between 51视频 Health News and The Associated Press.
