CBS News analysis: Most Republicans agree with

As Donald Trump dominates the GOP nomination race and some of his inflammatory comments find favor with the party faithful, CBS News measured how the public feels about his “poisoning the blood” language. A striking number of voters agree with this description of immigrants who enter the U.S. illegally, and among Republicans, associating the remarks with Trump himself makes them even likelier to agree.

We asked registered voters whether they agreed or disagreed with this statement in two ways. Half of survey respondents were simply asked about “poisoning the blood” without attributing the language to anyone, while the other half were told Trump said it. Either way we ask, most Republican voters agree.

Since we randomly assigned respondents to see one version of the question or the other, we can examine whether attribution to Trump changes agreement. As the above chart illustrates, Republican voters become 10 percentage points more likely to agree with the statement when they are explicitly told it came from Trump.

And this Trump effect grows when you look at the MAGA segment of the party and Republicans backing Trump for the 2024 nomination. For example, likely GOP primary voters who currently back Trump become 16 points more likely to agree when the language is attributed to Trump.

MAGA and Trump voters are also likelier than other Republicans to agree at baseline — without any attribution. The takeaway is that the right wing of the party is inclined to agree to begin with, and that Trump making such statements likely increases their acceptance.

This CBS News/YouGov survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 2,870 U.S. adult residents interviewed between January 10-12, 2024, including 786 likely Republican primary voters. The sample was weighted according to gender, age, race, and education based on the U.S. Census American Community Survey and Current Population Survey, as well as past vote. The margin of error is ±3.1 points for registered voters, ±5.6 points for Republican registered voters, and ±4.7 points for Republican likely primary voters.

Kabir Khanna

Kabir Khanna is Deputy Director, Elections & Data Analytics at CBS News. He conducts surveys, develops statistical models, and projects races at the network Decision Desk. His scholarly research centers on political behavior and methodology. He holds a PhD in political science from Princeton University.