AMERICANS THINK ICE IS THE WORST FEDERAL AGENCY, POLL SHOWS

BY CHANTAL DA SILVA ON 10/6/19 AT 8:47 AM EDT

Over the past two years, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency has sparked widespread outrage over its role in enforcing the Trump administration's hardline immigration policies—and it appears that anger has stuck, with a new study finding ICE to be the least favorable federal agency in America.

Published by the Pew Research Center on Thursday, the new poll asked people in the U.S. for their opinions on the country's federal agencies.

"Of the 16 agencies asked about in a national survey by Pew Research Center, conducted Sept. 5-16 among 2,004 U.S. adults, 14 are viewed more favorably than unfavorably by the public," Pew said in a summary of its findings.

ICE, however, was not one of them. In fact, the immigration agency was identified as the "sole agency asked about in the survey" that was "viewed more negatively…than positively," with 54 percent of those polled saying they held an unfavorable view of the agency, compared with 42 percent who felt favorably.

Unsurprisingly, attitudes towards the immigration agency fell largely along partisan lines, with 70 percent of Republicans and Republican-leaning independents having a favorable view of ICE, while just 19 percent of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents felt the same way.

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