Judge Hannah Dugan’s Arrest
On April 25, 2025, Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI on charges of obstruction and concealing an individual after allegedly helping an undocumented immigrant, Eduardo Flores-Ruiz, evade arrest. The incident occurred on April 18, 2025, when Dugan reportedly directed Flores-Ruiz out of her courtroom through a jury door while federal agents waited to apprehend him on an immigration warrant. On April 29, 2025, the Wisconsin Supreme Court suspended Dugan from her duties to maintain public confidence in the judiciary, with a reserve judge taking over her cases.
Many people in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and the rest of the nation commented on the arrest. Some believe Dugan’s arrest is an overreach by federal authorities, threatening judicial independence and due process. Others believe Dugan’s alleged actions justify her arrest, as judges must uphold federal law and not obstruct justice.
We wondered what the American people thought about this arrest. Therefore, between April 30, 2025 and May 5, 2025 ActiVote has conducted a survey in the ActiVote app to determine what the American people think about Judge Dugan’s arrest. The 406 people who weighed in answered the following question:
Which of the following statements best reflects your opinion on Judge Hannah Dugan’s arrest?
- Federal arrests of local judges should be banned (ban arrests)
- Dugan’s arrest should be reversed (reverse arrest)
- The legal process in Dugan’s case should be left to play out (let play out)
- Dugan’s arrest is important to ensure judges comply with federal law (important signal)
- All judges who obstruct immigration enforcement should be arrested (arrest all obstructionists)
Poll Results
Almost half of respondents (46%) are supportive of the arrest: 37% believe that any judge who obstructs immigration enforcement should be arrested, while another 9% believe that Duggan’s arrest sends an important signal that judges must comply with federal law.
About one third of respondents (33%) do not support the arrest: 27% believe that her arrest should be reversed while another 6% believe that federal arrests of local judges should be banned.
Finally, about one in five respondents (21%) believe that the legal process in Dugan’s case should be left to play out.
Thus, a significant majority of the country (67%) does not see this as an attack on the judiciary. They either believe that this is simply a case where the legal process should take its course, or they are supportive of this type of arrest: anyone who is believed to obstruct federal immigration law enforcement, including judges, should face the consequences of such obstruction.
Political Spectrum
The following graph shows the opinions of those classified as left, moderate left, center, moderate right, and right. These groups are defined by splitting the national electorate in 5 equal sized groups of 20% each.
Those on the left overwhelmingly reject the arrest: 87% want it reversed and only 11% are willing to see how it plays out. Those on the moderate left also in majority reject the arrest: 58% want it reversed, while 29% are willing to see how it plays out.
Centrists are more aligned with the moderate right than with the moderate left: 49% are supportive of the arrest and another 33% believe we should let the process play out. Only 18% believe the arrest should be reversed.
Over four out of five (82%) on the moderate right and right are supportive of the arrest and another 16% believe we should let the process play out. Only 2% of them wish to see the arrest reversed.
Crosstabs
The following table shows for every subcategory of Americans what the unweighted participation in our poll was, as well as the participation after weighting to correctly reflect the national population, followed by the weighted poll answers for those in that category.
From the table it can be seen that before weighting there was an overrepresentation of rural, younger (18-49), male, Democrats, White, college educated and (moderate) left leaning participants.
Omitted from the table are those subcategories for which the national population or our unweighted sample (or both) does not reach the threshold of 5%. For this poll that applies to those registered with a 3rd party, Asians and those with ethnicity “Other”. Their (weighted) opinions are included in the overall result.
After weighting, the poll correctly represents the American people.
Check out our polling page for our latest polls, and Why trust our polls? for our methodology, disclosures and accuracy record.
 | 406 RV | Unweighted | Weighted | Ban arrests | Reverse arrest | Let play out | Important signal | Arrest all obstructionists |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | ±4.9% MoE | 100% | 100% | 6% | 27% | 21% | 9% | 37% |
| Political Spectrum | Left | 26% | 20% | 15% | 72% | 11% | 1% | 0% |
| Moderate Left | 31% | 20% | 12% | 46% | 29% | 6% | 8% | |
| Center | 18% | 20% | 2% | 16% | 33% | 11% | 38% | |
| Moderate Right | 13% | 20% | 0% | 2% | 14% | 18% | 67% | |
| Right | 12% | 20% | 2% | 1% | 17% | 10% | 70% | |
| Region | rural | 37% | 32% | 2% | 27% | 21% | 10% | 41% |
| suburban | 37% | 36% | 8% | 23% | 21% | 6% | 42% | |
| urban | 26% | 32% | 9% | 32% | 20% | 12% | 27% | |
| Age | 18-29 | 32% | 15% | 4% | 40% | 20% | 7% | 28% |
| 30-49 | 40% | 33% | 6% | 25% | 24% | 4% | 41% | |
| 50-64 | 15% | 24% | 8% | 24% | 18% | 15% | 35% | |
| 65+ | 13% | 28% | 6% | 26% | 19% | 11% | 39% | |
| Gender | F | 25% | 52% | 8% | 31% | 15% | 8% | 38% |
| M | 75% | 48% | 4% | 23% | 27% | 10% | 36% | |
| Affiliation | D | 45% | 39% | 8% | 42% | 19% | 6% | 26% |
| R | 35% | 33% | 2% | 10% | 18% | 15% | 55% | |
| I | 17% | 27% | 9% | 26% | 25% | 7% | 33% | |
| Ethnicity | White | 86% | 68% | 5% | 28% | 19% | 11% | 37% |
| Black | 5% | 11% | 3% | 31% | 3% | 8% | 55% | |
| Latino | 8% | 14% | 10% | 32% | 21% | 7% | 30% | |
| Income | Low | 22% | 21% | 7% | 26% | 14% | 17% | 37% |
| Middle | 38% | 43% | 5% | 30% | 28% | 2% | 35% | |
| High | 40% | 37% | 8% | 24% | 16% | 13% | 39% | |
| Education | Highschool | 30% | 32% | 11% | 34% | 12% | 9% | 34% |
| Some College | 6% | 23% | 0% | 22% | 15% | 13% | 50% | |
| BSC+ | 64% | 45% | 6% | 25% | 30% | 7% | 32% |