White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer defends President Donald Trump's ban on travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries saying it was enacted with the proper preparation and coordination.
New polling suggests that Donald Trump's executive order to impose a temporary block on immigrants from seven Muslim-majority countries has the support of nearly one in two Americans.
When asked "do you agree or disagree with the executive order that President Trump signed blocking refugees and banning people from sevenMuslim majority countries from entering the US?", 49 per cent of respondents said they agreed with the policy.
This compares to 41 per cent who said that they disagreed with the policy, while the remaining 10 per cent did not know whether they agreed or disagreed.
The executive order in question has imposed a 90-day ban on people entering the country from Syria, Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. It also prevents all refugees from entering the US for 120 days.
Despite the protesting, recent polling has shown that the majority of Americans back Trumps ban. Photo / AP
Trump's decision to halt immigration has been widely criticised in the past few days with protests across the world, legal challenges and condemnation from Barack Obama.
On Monday, Trump sacked his interim Attorney General for failing to enforce his immigration ban, with the White House announcement of her resignation saying that she had "betrayed" the Justice Department.
The practicalities of the executive order caused confusion across the globe with it being unclear whether dual nationals were also being barred from entry to the US.
However, this new poll, which was carried out by Reuters/Ipsos and surveyed 1,201 people across all 50 US states, seems to indicate that Trump has more support for his actions than the media coverage would suggest.
In addition to more people agreeing with the ban than disagreeing with it, 31 per cent of respondents said the travel ban made them feel safer, compared to 26 per cent who said it made them feel less safe.
However, more people said that they felt America was setting a bad example in how to combat terrorism (41 per cent) compared to those who felt they were setting a good example (38 per cent).
The results to all three questions were heavily split along party lines with 82 per cent of Republicans agreeing with the ban, compared to just 23 per cent of Democrats.
As many as 70 per cent of Democrat respondents said they disagreed with the ban compared to just 13 per cent of Republicans.
