More than half of Americans oppose Donald Trump's proposal to ban all Muslims from entering the United States, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll revealed Thursday.
Of the nearly 500 people polled by phone for that question (1,000 were queried for the remainder of the poll), 57% disagreed with a ban, while 25% were in favor, in line with the 59% of Americans who said their views of Muslims were positive, and 29% who said they were negative.
Nearly 6-in-10 Americans oppose #Trump's Muslim proposal via @NBCNews/@WSJ poll >> https://t.co/Ukxgi6KE4d pic.twitter.com/39tWTIbHVm— NBC News PR (@NBCNewsPR) December 10, 2015
However a separate poll by Rasmussen Reports, also released Thursday, asked a slightly different question and got a very different answer.
Rasmussen's question included the finer points of Trump's proposal--that the ban would be temporary "until the U.S. improves its ability to screen out potential terrorists"-- but didn't mention the Republican presidential candidate. The conservative-leaning New Jersey firm found that 46% of Americans favor a temporary ban, 40% oppose it and the remainder are undecided. Rasmussen polled 1,000 people by phone between Dec. 8-9, the same time period NBC/WSJ asked its respondents about the ban.
Both polls found that Republican respondents were the most favorable of a ban. Of the NBC/WSJ respondents, 42% of Republicans supported it and 36% opposed. For Republican primary voters, opinion was almost even, with 38% in favor and 39% against. But, according to Rasmussen, two-thirds of likely Republican voters favored the ban, with 24% opposing.
According to the NBC/WSJ poll, three-quarters of Democrats disagree with the ban. Of the Democrats polled by Rasmussen, 55% oppose it.
The Muslim ban was announced prior to a rally in South Carolina Monday night, when Trump called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on," a stance reiterated in a statement released by his campaign.
Backlash to the plan was swift on both sides of the political aisle, with Florida Gov. Jeb Bush calling Trump "unhinged," both Democratic candidate Martin O'Malley and Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore labeling him a "fascist," and White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest concluding Trump's statement "disqualifies him from serving as president."
Trump addressed the controversy in an interview with CNN's Don Lemon Wednesday night, during which he called Muslims "phenomenal people" and claimed many supported his plan.
"I'm doing good for the Muslims," Trump said. "Many Muslim friends of mine are in agreement with me. They say, 'Donald, you brought something up to the fore that is so brilliant and so fantastic."
The candidate also blamed his political opponents for misrepresenting his proposal for the ban, which he said would be temporary, and stated that American voters were in favor of it. And that point obviously varies depending on which poll you look at.
"The group that is not criticizing me is the public," Trump said. "The public agrees with what I said. They saw those two animals last week go out and shoot people [in San Bernardino]."
This is not the first time Trump has made controversial statements regarding Muslims. In the past few months, Trump has proposed a database to track Muslims in the United States, said he would send back all Syrian refugees--not all of whom may be Muslim-- and claimed to have seen Muslims cheering in New Jersey as the World Trade Center came down on 9/11.
NBC/WSJ poll on Trump: 41%: His stmts are frequently insulting 24%: He raises impt issues despite language 22% He tells it like it is (1/2)— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) December 10, 2015
The NBC/WSJ poll, more of which will be published Sunday and Monday, also gauged opinion on Trump's campaign statements in general, with 41% of respondents ruling that his remarks are "frequently insulting and have the wrong approach," while 22% said Trump is "telling it like it is." The remaining 24% of people polled stated, though his behavior may create some cause for concern, Trump is still drawing attention to important issues.
The NBC/WSJ question about the ban had a margin of error of plus-or-minus 4.4 percentage points. Both the larger NBC/WSJ poll and the Rasmussen poll had margins of error of plus-or-minus 3 percentage points. While the NBC/WSJ pollsters reached about 400 cellphone users overall, who generally tend to skew younger, the Rasmussen poll was automated and federal law bans automated polls from calling cellphones.