A UC San Diego poll found that non-white voters were significantly more likely than white voters to say that voting in the midterms would put them at risk of being questioned by federal officials.

Posted by The NPR Politics Podcast, Sep 29, 2026Checked Nov 2, 2026

Polygraph verdictTrue

Sources: 4 support4 context
Said: 1 time·
Confidence: 75%

The NPR Politics PodcastSep 29, 2026

The UC San Diego survey reported in September 2026 found that voters of color, including Asian American, Hispanic, and Black respondents, were far more likely than white respondents to worry that voting could expose them to questioning by federal immigration officers despite being citizens (roughly 24-39% versus 9%).

The host relays this claim without endorsing it. It counts as passed on, not against the post.

This claim is about the present, so it is judged as of the day it was checked.

What was said

… if we're gonna if we see this continue in terms of charges being announced on a daily or semi daily basis somewhere in the country, it goes back to the initial point of, like, how scared are people right now of voting? And people who are U.S. Citizens there was another finding in that UC San Diego poll that found that non-white voters were significantly more likely than white voters to say that they were voting this midterms would put them at risk of being questioned by federal officials, even if they are U.S. Citizens. And so I think that's what I think about every time I see a press conference announcing, you know, charges against a new person for illegal voting, is there's gonna be some portion of the population that just decides, it …

The NPR Politics Podcast · Sep 29, 2026· from the transcriptPost →

What we found

Supports. TPM reports the UC San Diego survey figures: 39% of Asian American and Pacific Islander, 31% of Hispanic, 24% of Black, and 9% of white respondents agreed they worry voting could put them at risk of being questioned by federal immigration officers despite being citizens.[3]

Supports. KPBS, reporting on new UC San Diego polling released the week of its September 2026 article, says voters of color were significantly more likely than white voters to say they feared voting could put them at risk of being questioned by immigration authorities despite being U.S. citizens.[4]

Supports. The San Diego Union-Tribune and Times of San Diego report the same racial gap in an earlier UC San Diego survey (February 2026), with white respondents at 8-9% versus 20-31% for Latino, Black, and Asian American respondents, showing the pattern is consistent across the poll series.[5][6]

Context. The NPR transcript (source 3) and the podcast summary (source 5) repeat the claim itself; they are the claimant's own material and provide no independent corroboration. Reuters and AP coverage on ICE and DOJ activity in California does not address the poll's figures.[1][2][7][8]