Should Washington cooperate with Trump deportation plans? Poll shows voters are split

Gene Balk, The Seattle Times on Jan 17, 2025

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SEATTLE — When it comes to President-elect Donald Trump's plan to deport migrants who are in the United States illegally, how should Washington and its cities respond — cooperate or resist?

A new poll asked Washington voters that question, and the response may be surprising to some readers. In deep-blue Washington, around half of respondents — 51% — believe the state should cooperate with the Trump administration in deporting migrants who are here illegally. Forty percent said Washington should live up to its "sanctuary state" status and resist the Trump administration, and 9% had no opinion.

The Keep Washington Working Act, which was signed into law by then-Gov. Jay Inslee in 2019, restricts local law enforcement from cooperating with federal immigration officials. Seattle and some other cities in Washington have also enacted similar "sanctuary" legislation.

The Cascade PBS Elway poll surveyed 406 Washington registered voters from Dec. 26-30. The survey was conducted through multiple channels, including online surveys and phone interviews. The margin of error is plus or minus 5 percentage points.

Reflecting the distribution of the state's population, 79% of survey respondents lived in Western Washington, including 29% in King County, and 21% lived in Eastern Washington.

In nearly all areas of the state that were broken out in the survey results, at least 50% of respondents felt Washington should cooperate with the Trump administration. The exceptions were King County and Seattle.

But even in King County, more respondents expressed support for cooperation than resistance by 48% to 39%, with 13% having no opinion.

Seattle, the only city broken out in the survey results, stood out from everywhere else in the state. Just 13% agreed we should cooperate with the Trump deportation plans, while 67% said we should resist, and 20% had no opinion. It's worth noting that only 40 survey respondents were Seattle residents, a small sample size. Even so, the survey results sound pretty accurate for Seattle, an overwhelmingly Democratic city.

Overall, there wasn't as much difference between the survey responses in Western Washington and Eastern Washington as you might think. In Western Washington, around 50% said the state should cooperate, 37% said we should resist, and 14% had no opinion. East of the Cascades, which is generally a more conservative area, 55% supported cooperation, 35% favored resistance, and 9% had no opinion.

The survey shows little difference in responses by gender and age. Among men, 54% said we should cooperate, compared with 47% of women. Among the various age groups, there was a bit more support for cooperation among the youngest respondents, at 59% of those 18 to 35, and lower support for cooperation among those 36 to 50, at 43%.

However, the survey shows a massive difference in responses along educational lines. Sixty percent of respondents who did not have a four-year college degree, and 54% who had completed a four-year college degree, supported cooperation with the Trump administration. But among those with a graduate degree, a mere 19% said we should cooperate, while 71% said we should resist and 9% had no opinion.

The most affluent Washingtonians were the most likely to express support for resistance rather than cooperation. Among those with a household income of $150,000 or higher, 41% said we should cooperate and 49% said we should resist. This was the only income group in which support for resistance was higher than support for cooperation.

In a separate survey question, respondents were asked what impact they expected a second Trump presidency to have on their lives. Again the responses show a sharp divide.

About half — 51% — felt the impact would be negative. Of those, 30% felt the negative impact on their lives would be significant, while 21% thought it wouldn't directly affect them. A slightly smaller share — 44% — said the impact would be positive. Of those, 28% felt the positive impact would be significant, and 16% said it wouldn't directly affect them. The remaining 5% had no opinion.