A 54 percent majority of Americans say immigration under President Joe Biden is making life harder for all, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll of 4,415 adults.
Just 34 disagreed, including just 29 percent of independents.
The poll shows a rapid, nine-point shift from July to September as Biden’s migrants flood into major cities, jobs, schools, and housing.
In July, Reuters reported that “Some 48% of respondents said they agreed with a statement that immigration is making life harder for native-born Americans, compared with 37% who disagreed and the rest who were not sure. “
This shift is stunning, said Rob Law, who is the director of the Center For Homeland Security & Immigration at the America First Policy Institute.
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“The poll reflects the reality that everyday Americans face, which is downward pressure on their wages from mass immigration, both legal and illegal,” he added. “Americans are pointing the finger and place the blame squarely where it belongs, which are the open borders and mass migration policies orchestrated by the Biden administration.”
“If the Republican nominee hammers home those issues — not just the need for border security — but the pocketbook negative impact on American workers, there’s an opportunity to welcome more voters for into the [GOP] camp,” he said.
The Poll
The recent September 8-14 poll got a 54 percent response when it asked: “How much do you agree or disagree with the following statements? – Immigration is making life harder for native-born Americans.” Just 34 percent disagreed.
Critically, 27 percent of Americans strongly agreed that immigration makes life difficult for U.S.-born Americans. That 27 percent includes four out of 10 Republicans and one-quarter of independents. Only one-in-six strongly disagreed. The “strongly” share is important because it shows people who are likely to vote on the issue in the rush and roar of an election campaign.
The issue is hugely important to GOP voters.
A second question asked: “How important, if at all, will each of the following be in determining how you vote in the next election? – Immigration making life harder for native-born Americans.”
Ten percent of GOP voters, eight percent of independents, and five percent of Democrats picked “Most important — only issue I really care about.” In contrast, seven percent picked guns as the “only issue I really care about.”
A further 46 percent of the Republicans, 33 percent of the independents, and 24 percent of Democrats picked “Very important.”
The “Not at all [important]” share of the response was just 10 percent
On October 10, Reuters reported an updated Ipsos poll, which showed that immigration is becoming more important:
in October the share of poll respondents who rated “immigration” the No. 1 problem rose to 14% from 8% in September. That [14 percent] was the highest measure of concern about immigration since December 2019, when 15% of respondents cited it as their top concern. A larger share – 19% – said the economy was the top concern, down from 23% in September.
Democrats are growing worried because national polls, as well as local polls in New York and Chicago, show a similar public shift among Democratic voters against easy migration. For example, a September 21-22 Ipsos poll showed that “50% say President Biden should be doing more about blocking illegal immigrants from entering the United States.”
The polling shift comes after Biden’s deputies welcomed at least 5 million low-wage migrants into the nation’s labor and housing markets. That policy was intended to cut Americans’ wages and raise their rents. “Democrats and the educated upper-middle class sought mass migration that spiraled out of control,” said one critical report by moderates.
The GOP’s Failure
Yet the GOP has clearly failed to win majority support on immigration issues.
Unsurprisingly, the Ipsos poll showed that only 40 percent of all respondents think the GOP “has the best approach” on immigration, while 30 percent say they “don’t know.” The 40 percent share includes 68 percent of GOP voters and just 31 percent of independents. Biden’s Democrats have the support of 29 percent of respondents.
The low 40 percent score shows “the divide within the Republican Party” between donors and voters, said Law.
For example, several establishment GOP figures — exiting Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Ut), and former House Speaker Rep. Paul — met on October 10 to promote the pro-establishment candidates for the GOP presidential nomination. An October 11 Washington Post article on the meeting suggested the meeting ignored the domestic and pocketbook issues that are most important to the GOP voters, and instead talked about “challenges in foreign policy, business and tech” that are important to donors.
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Texas Department of Public SafetyIn the absence of a pro-American migration policy from Washington, many Americans waver between their personal recognition of migration’s harms, and the establishment’s “Nation of Immigrant” narrative that was invented during the Cold War.
This wavering ensures that poll answers can be easily swayed by the questions that are pushed by politicians, pollsters, lobbyists, and donors during a campaign.
For example, the Sept 21-22 Ipsos poll showed that 44 percent said the U.S. should be more welcoming of immigrants, and 27 percent disagreed.
The new Ipsos poll shows that Americans believe they live in a nation of citizens, not of migrants, said Law. “We are generous with our immigration policy, but we are we’re a nation of citizens,” he said.
“Immigration was the winning issue in 2016 that got pushed to the side in 2020,” he added. “If the [GOP] nominee returns to the America first immigration policy in this upcoming election cycle, you’re going to consolidate Republicans, win with independents, and may peel off some self-identified Democrats,” he said.
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