A majority of American voters say DHS Secretary Kristi Noem should be removed from her position, following the death of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday found.
Fifty-eight percent of voters said Noem should be removed, including 91% of Democrats and 62% of independents, according to the poll. Roughly three-quarters of Republicans (74%) say Noem should remain in her job.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem participates in a Cabinet meeting in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington, January 29, 2026.
Aaron Schwartz/EPA/Shutterstock
The DHS secretary has come under fire following her comments on the Pretti shooting where she initially claimed, without evidence, that the nurse was trying “to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.” She later walked back her comments, contending, “we were using the best information we had at the time.”
Additionally, 61% of voters surveyed said they think the Trump administration has not given an honest account of Pretti’s shooting and killing.
The poll was conducted among 1,191 self-identified registered voters nationwide from Jan. 29, five days after Pretti’s shooting, to Feb. 2. It has a margin of error of +/- 3.6 percentage points for the overall sample, which is larger among subgroups.
-ABC News’ Emily Guskin
