Donald Trump’s war on immigrants has exposed that many Americans oppose immigrants coming to America. Although seems that Americans oppose immigrants living in the country because of the anti-immigrant rhetoric that Trump espoused, the reality is the opposite.
Americans want immigrants in their midst.
In July of last year, Gallup published the results of its latest poll on immigration conducted between May 28 and June 4, 2020.
For the first time, according to Gallup, more Americans “prefer to see immigration to the U.S. increased.” In 2019, 27% of those polled by Gallup wanted more immigrants to come to the country. In 2020, those wanting more immigrants rose to 34%.
In other words, the Trump war on immigrants has caused more Americans to value the immigrants that come to the country.
Gallup found that those opposed to new immigrants fell to 28% while another 36% wanted the immigration levels to stay the same.
Gallup reported that the views on immigration by Republicans has stayed the same “over the past decade.” On the other hand, support for rising immigration levels among Democrats has increased to “historic highs,” according to Gallup.
It used to be that the Republicans wanted more immigrants than the Democrats. It was a Republican president, Ronald Reagan, that legalized millions of immigrants in 1986.
The Democrats, on the other had, have opposed increases in immigration because immigrants compete for the jobs that labor unions wish to protect.
However, the pendulum has shifted. More Democrats now favor immigrants while the Republicans have stagnated.
The Gallup polls shows that 50% of Democrats who participated in the poll favor increased immigration levels, along with 34% of Independents. Among Republicans, only 13% favor increasing immigration.
Interestingly, when those polled were asked what they thought about immigration, 77% answered that immigration is a “good thing” for America.
The debate over immigration is clearly not about the value of immigrants to the country, but, rather it is a policy issue over job competition.
Source:
- Mohamed Younis, “Americans Want More, not Less, Immigration for First Time,” Gallup, July 1, 2020.
