New poll finds 63% of Iowa voters believe Trump Administration’s deployments of the National Guard are dividing Americans

The National Guard in Los Angeles in June.

Since taking office, President Trump has deployed National Guard troops to Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, Portland, Memphis, and Chicago, with public statements indicating he intends to expand domestic use of armed forces in additional cities. As litigation surrounding the lawfulness of these deployments unfolds in the courts, a new statewide poll of Iowa voters finds that over 60% of Iowans — and over 1 in 4 Republicans — believe the country is on the wrong track and that the president’s deployments of the National Guard are dividing Americans.

Commissioned by Protect Democracy Project, the GS Strategy Group poll results show that:

  • 52% of Iowans disapprove of President Trump’s handling of crime and public safety.
  • 63% of Iowans believe the recent military and National Guard deployments are dividing Americans.
  • 69% of Iowa voters believe it would be better to increase funding for local law enforcement rather than spending huge sums of taxpayer money on military deployments.
  • 63% of voters surveyed said that governors are in command of states’ National Guards, and a president deploying them over a governor’s wishes undermines states’ rights and the Constitution’s separation of powers.
  • 50% of Iowans believe that President Trump deploying military and National Guard to Democratic-run cities is a political stunt. 
  • Over 20% of Iowa Republicans oppose the latest federal deployments of the National Guard.

Americans continue to view crime as a major problem in cities, and President Trump has used allegations of widespread crime as pretext for federalizing National Guard troops to “restore law and order.” But recent polling from States United Democracy Center shows that 70% of Americans believe that local law enforcement is best suited to handle crime in their communities, consistent with the above finding that Iowans prefer investing in local enforcement rather than spending taxpayer dollars on costly military deployments in U.S. cities.

For more on the survey findings, visit here. For more on the National Guard and their missions click here, and for background on the limitations on the use of National Guard in law enforcement, click here.