Poll: Most Americans Don't Support Trump's Travel Ban

Editor Shannon McMahon is always planning her next trip and often writing in her travel journal. Follow her on Twitter @shanmcmahon_ and on Instagram @shanmcmahon.

Shannon joined SmarterTravel in 2015. A former news reporter, she's lived in the south of Spain, spotted elephants in Sri Lanka, gone spelunking in the Caribbean, hiked Jordan's Petra Basin, interviewed Sao Paulo's Michelin-Star chefs, and explored China via bullet train. Travel trends, news oddities, and her visits to up-and-coming destinations are some of her favorite things to write about.

Her stories have also appeared online on USA Today, The Sun, Huffington Post, Business Insider, blog.TripAdvisor.com, Boston.com, and more. Her educational background is in journalism, art history, gender studies, Spanish, and film. She's been quoted as an expert travel source by CNBC, People.com, MarketWatch, The Washington Post, USA Today, and more.

The Handy Item I Always Pack: "Plenty of extra thick hair elastics. They tame my frizzy curls and come in handy in a surprising number of packing and hotel dilemmas."

Ultimate Bucket List Experience: "Climbing (yes, climbing, it's steep!) the Great Wall of China before it's gone."

Travel Motto: "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness." - Mark Twain

Aisle, Window, or Middle Seat: "Window, of course."

Email Shannon at smcmahon@smartertravel.com.

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You probably saw (or experienced) the airport protests and delays this weekend following President Donald Trump’s executive order to ban nationals traveling to the U.S. from seven Muslim-majority nations. But what do the American people think of the new travel measure?

Turns out less than a third of Americans approve, according to a non-reader Skift survey. The travel intelligence website asked 1,502 adults across the country this week (again, Skift readers were excluded) for their opinion, and 49.6 percent said they “don’t support” the ban. About 30 percent of respondents said they do support the measure, and the remaining 20.5 percent either didn’t have an opinion or didn’t share it.

Screen shot 2017-02-01 at 3.55.36 pm — (Photo: Skift)

The results come just days after the order was penned and federal judges granted a stay against it. The Department of Homeland Security has publicly acknowledged that 721 people were prevented from boarding planes to the United States, and more than 1,100 waivers were granted to visa and green-card holders traveling to the United States.

The order applied to permanent U.S. residents from the seven predominantly Muslim countries (Syria, Iraq, Iran, Yemen, Libya, Somalia, and Sudan) and prompted lawyers across the country to head to their airports to offer detained travelers their services free of charge.

President Trump tweeted on Monday that the airport delays were caused by responding protestors and a Delta computer outage, and falsely claimed that his administration detained or denied entry to only 109 travelers. The ban (although his administration is not calling it a “ban,” despite the President himself using the term) is scheduled to last at least 90 days, and officials say it gives them an opportunity to review refugee vetting and U.S. visa requirements for nationals of the seven majority-Muslim countries.

Here’s what people thought based on where they live in the U.S.

Do you support Trump’s executive order? Comment below. (But be polite.) See the full survey results here.

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Associate Editor Shannon McMahon writes about all things travel. Follow her on Twitter and Instagram.

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