Inquire Poll: 61% Oppose Shutdown to Defund ICE

Democrats are "misreading the room" if they believe another government shutdown under the guise of defunding Immigration and Customs Enforcement will benefit them politically, Inquire pollster Rob Schmidt told Newsmax, sharing exclusive results of his recent poll.

"Voters — especially the ones who will decide the midterms — are sending a clear signal to Washington — do not shut down the federal government over the funding of ICE," Schmidt wrote in a statement.

"Another prolonged shutdown will not bode well for the Democratic Party who are once again misreading the room."

Schmidt's Inquire poll of likely November 2026 general election voters, completed Monday, found 61% oppose shutting down the federal government to defund ICE.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has vowed to force a shutdown by splitting the Department of Homeland Security funding from the final six-part omnibus that faces Friday's continuing resolution deadline.

Notably, a near majority of Americans would be less likely to vote for a congressional candidate who supports defunding ICE and limiting its ability to enforce federal immigration laws, according to the poll.

The poll found 61% disagreed with the statement: "We should defund ICE, and I support Congress shutting down the federal government to achieve this."

That figure includes a near majority that strongly disagreed (48%), while just 33% agreed.

Voters in battleground states and a majority of centrists back Republicans in keeping DHS funded at House-passed levels, negotiated on a bipartisan and bicameral basis, before Saturday's fatal shooting:

— 58% of Independents

— 58% of swing-state voters

— 57% of Congressional Undecideds

— 56% of moderates

Opposition to Democrats' political strategy is even stronger among Hispanic voters, with opposition to a shutdown over ICE rising to 63%, according to Schmidt.

But, if appealing to the center does not dissuade Senate Democrats, perhaps a midterm election punishment might.

"Nearly half (47%) would be 'Less Likely' to vote for a candidate for U.S. Congress who 'wants to defund ICE and limit their ability to enforce federal immigration laws' — including 41% who would be 'Much Less Likely,'" Schmidt wrote in his poll analysis memo shared exclusively with Newsmax.

"One in three (35%) would be 'More Likely' and 13% said it would make 'No Difference.'"

All of the centrist midterm subsets are in the plurality of being "less likely" to vote for someone forcing a shutdown under the guise of defunding ICE:

— Independents say Less Likely 40% to 35% for More Likely

— Moderates (36%-35%)

— Swing-state voters (45%-37%)

— Congressional Undecideds (38%-26%)

— Hispanic voters (49%-36%)

Rep. Dan Meuser, R-Pa., told Newsmax's "Wake Up America" on Tuesday morning that Schumer's plan to split off the DHS funding will not even impact ICE operations, because they were already funded in the Big Beautiful Bill Act passed this summer.

"ICE will be minimally affected: They know this," Meuser said.

"And it would be impossible for us to not have a partial government shutdown, or at least for a few days, if they try to pull a bill out of that package that we sent, six appropriations bills that were bipartisan.

"If they pulled that, we would have a government shutdown."

The ends do not justify the means, Meuser concluded.

"The Democrats playing some politics, rather than trying to fix the problem, they go political," Meuser said. "And that's just wrong. It's not just a bad strategy. It's bad for our country.

"And it's bad for all the people that they pretend to be trying to help."

Inquire conducted a survey of 1,003 likely November 2026 general election voters nationwide from Jan. 22-24. The results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.