Trump Voters Voice Mixed Reactions to Shift in Proposed Immigrant Ban

— -- Donald Trump's backers expressed a range of opinions over the presumptive Republican presidential nominee’s tweak in his proposed ban on Muslims entering the U.S., according to phone interviews with participants in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.

Some criticized Trump’s bowing to political pressure, while others praised what they called a pragmatic move that could strengthen his hand in the general election.

Trump in recent weeks appears to have moderated his original policy, which called for "a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States," to a ban on immigration from "terrorist countries."

Melvin Hicks, a retired 79-year-old mechanical engineer and a Trump backer from Lakeland, Florida, supported the candidate's original pledge in December to temporarily ban all Muslims from entering the U.S., and expressed disappointment over the shift.

"I would have rather he stayed with his stronger position," he said. "He's getting a lot of pressure and I think he's wilted a little bit there."

Other Trump voters see the apparent shift as pragmatic. “I think he's probably getting pressure from the government people,” said auto body shop owner Roger Crouse, 60, of Winona Lake, Indiana. “I think he's just trying to win -- you’ve got to win more people.”

Trump supporter Margie Burns, 50, a secretary and Virginia resident, told ABC News that she accepts Trump’s shift “if it helps get him into office.”

One Trump supporter who said that the candidate's original approach to Muslim immigration amounted to “reintroducing prejudices” told ABC News he now supports the tweaked version.

“Any country that especially has a lot of support for terrorism, we should be careful of anyway,” said Heath Sandbulte, 33, of Pella, Iowa who is a veteran of the Iraq War and works as an assembler in a factory.

Michigander Carly Rasper, 18, a college student who works as a summer deli cook, is still debating whether to vote for Trump.

“I think that he is a bit extreme, but also at the same time extreme measures need to be taken,” Rasper said. She supports Trump’s shift because it is “not assuming that everyone is a terrorist, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

The Trump campaign has denied that Trump is rolling back his proposed Muslim ban. Former Pennsylvania Rick Santorum echoed this sentiment, telling ABC News, “Does it make sense to focus on all of the countries where most of them come from? Yes, it does. I don't think that it's a backing away from the policy.”

ABC News’ Katherine Faulders contributed to this report.