For Immediate Release
Contact: Dan Gordon, 617-651-0841
Sept. 22, 2021

NEW POLL: Across Parties, Americans Support People Seeking Refuge   

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Strong majorities of Republicans, Independents and Democrats agree that the U.S. should have a legal, secure way to welcome people from oppressed or war-torn countries.

In a new poll of 1,200 adults, including 1,000 registered voters, 65% of Americans — including 61% of Republicans, 63% of Independents and 75% of Democrats — agreed "that the United States should have a legal, secure process in place to take in people from oppressed or war-torn countries, such as Afghanistan." The nationwide, online survey was fielded Thursday through Sunday.

The margin among all respondents was 45 percentage points, as 20% said they disagree and 14% were unsure.

The results come as Americans witness the Biden administration’s challenges responding to more than 10,000 Haitian migrants in Del Rio, Texas; as communities across the country welcome Afghan evacuees; and as the administration announced plans this week to increase the refugee cap to 125,000 for fiscal year 2022.

"The American people, across party lines, are ready for solutions that extend a hand to people seeking refuge," said Ali Noorani, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum. "The results speak to the need to welcome and integrate evacuees from Afghanistan, and indicate a level of support for other populations fleeing violence or oppression.

"The support for Afghan resettlement is clear. The opportunity is to expand that support to other populations so that immigrants and refugees, wherever they are from, are treated justly — and so that Congress moves forward with legislation to address a clearly broken system.

"As a nation, we must not lose sight of migrants’ human dignity or our own humanity. Americans recognize this. Our policies must reflect it."

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The National Immigration Forum in conjunction with The Bullfinch Group conducted a nationwide online survey fielded September 16-19, 2021, among 1,200 adults, of whom 1,000 respondents were registered voters. Sampling controls were used to ensure that a proportional and representative number of respondents were interviewed from demographic groups such as age, gender, political affiliation, race, and geographic region. The overall margin of error is ±2.83% at the 95% confidence interval for overall survey. The margin of error for registered voters is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence interval.