A quarter of Millennials (25%) would like to shut down US Immigration and Customs Enforcement if given the choice, and one in five (20%) Millennials would close US Customs and Border Patrol, according to a new YouGov poll on Americans’ trust in its institutions.
Millennials (those born between 1982-1999) are much more likely than Generation X or Baby Boomers to express interest in closing either CBP or ICE. That mirrors the overall lack of confidence that Millennials have in both federal agencies.
More than half of Millennials do not trust US Customs and Border Patrol (55%), which is the agency responsible for enforcing immigration laws at the nation’s borders and overseeing legal trade and travel. Another half (51%) do not trust US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is the investigative agency that enforces immigration laws throughout the country. Within that group, one-third (32%) of Millennials say they do not trust ICE “at all.”
By contrast, 44 percent of Gen X distrusts ICE and 46 percent of Baby Boomers also don’t trust the agency. Four in 10 (44%) Gen Xers distrusts CBP, compared with 42 percent of Boomers.
While Millennials are the most distrusting of CBP and ICE, there are some federal agencies they do have faith in. A majority of Millennials place their trust the United States Postal Service (79%), Federal Aviation Administration (70%), the Food and Drug Administration (61%), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (60%), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (57%), and the Census Bureau (55%).
More than three in four (78%) Republicans trust ICE, compared to nearly three in 10 (28%) Democrats. Eight in 10 (81%) Republicans trust CBP compared with 28 percent of Democrats.
Millennials are not the only group where a majority express distrust in a federal agency. More than half of Baby Boomers do not trust the Federal Elections Commission (55%), Department of Education (53%), or the Internal Revenue Service (52%).
A quarter (26%) of Baby Boomers would consider closing the IRS while 22 percent of Gen Xers join them in wanting to close the IRS. America’s wealthiest — people making more than $80,000 annually — would want to close the IRS (25%), compared to just 15 percent of people making $40,000 or less.
This data was additionally published in MTV News’ “Young People Don’t Trust ICE and Some Want it Abolished, New Poll Shows” as part of an ongoing partnership between MTV News and YouGov.
Methodology: Total unweighted sample size was 1,113 US adults ages 18+, including 382 Millennials, 293 Gen Xers, and 358 Baby Boomers. The responding sample is weighted to provide a representative reporting sample of the US. The survey was conducted online from July 8 - 9, 2019.
See the full YouGov survey results here.
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