Gallup poll finds growing support for less immigration

A new Gallup poll finds that a growing share of Americans want less immigration, with Republicans leading the way.

Gallup reported Monday that 38% of Americans want immigration decreased, up from 31% last year and a record low of 28% in 2020.

Another 31% want to keep immigration at its current level, and the remaining 27% say it should be increased.

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Last year, 35% wanted to keep it at then-present levels, and 33% wanted it increased. In 2020, 36% wanted to keep immigration steady and 34% — an all-time high since Gallup started asking the question in 1965 — wanted more of it.

“The mounting desire for decreased immigration in recent years has been driven mainly by Republicans, whose preference for reducing immigration is up 21 points since June 2020, when 48% expressed this,” Gallup reported. “This contrasts with a five-point increase among independents, to 33%, and a four-point increase among Democrats, to 17%.”

Gallup credited “the border crisis of recent years,” which has seen caravans of Central and South American migrants arriving at the southern border, for “likely affecting Americans’ views toward immigration generally.”

The polling company noted that “views on immigration policy have become increasingly polarized” since the end of George W. Bush’s presidency in 2008 when Republicans were 7 percentage points more likely to favor decreased immigration than Democrats.

That gap widened to 17 percentage points in 2009 and 52 percentage points this year. This year, 69% of Republicans said they want decreased immigration compared to just 17% of Democrats.

Gallup conducted the randomized national telephone survey of 1,013 adults on July 5-26, reporting a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points at the 95% confidence level.