March 16, 2026

New poll shows Trump’s “Operation Midway Blitz” will play heavily for Chicagoland voters in Tuesday’s election

A new poll sheds light on how the Trump administration’s so-called “Operation Midway Blitz” last fall impacted Chicagoland voters’ attitudes.

The poll was commissioned by Hands Off Chicago, an initiative supported by the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant & Refugee Rights (ICIRR), Indivisible Chicago, Personal PAC, Equality Illinois, Sierra Club Illinois, the Illinois AFL-CIO, the Chicago Federation of Labor, and other Chicago advocacy organizations.

The survey showed that registered voters in the Chicago media market “have deeply negative impressions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Trump administration's recent enhanced immigration enforcement and deportation efforts,” according to GBAO, the polling firm that conducted the survey. 

This issue will play heavily in Tuesday’s Democratic primary elections, with seven in ten people who expressed likelihood of voting in the election see a candidate's position on ICE as either the most important issue or very important in their decision on which candidate to support. And more than six in ten likely primary voters say a candidate's active participation in organized protests makes them more likely to vote for that person.

The survey also sought to identify what motivated people who chose to participate in rapid response or other protest activity related to ICE/CBP presence in their communities. Nearly one in seven voters in the Chicagoland region (14 percent) said they were active in protesting against ICE's actions in their community, with another 27 percent wishing they could have done more. While people across all demographics took action, the most active groups were Chicago residents, younger people, and self-described liberal voters. 

“This research shows that voters across demographics are deeply opposed to Trump’s immigration agenda, and that his violent and hostile approach has further motivated and mobilized people across Illinois against it,” said Lawrence Benito, Executive Director of ICIRR. “As we head into Tuesday’s election, watch for those who stood up strongly against ICE and Operation Midway Blitz to perform better than those who were silent or sat on the sidelines.”

To read the full poll memo, please click here. 

The poll, conducted between March 1-4, surveyed 800 registered voters in the Chicago media market, including Cook, DeKalb, DuPage, Kane, Kankakee, Kendall, Lake, LaSalle, McHenry, and Will counties.