New Poll: Americans Value Offering Refuge, Welcome
Also, Americans Still Overwhelmingly Want Border, Immigration Reforms
WASHINGTON, D.C. — By large margins, voters continue to support immigration reforms that strengthen border security, offer a solution for immigrants brought to the U.S. as children, and help farmers and ranchers.
In addition, voters think the U.S. should be a refuge for people fleeing persecution and torture, and believe that welcoming newcomers is an American value.
In new polling from the National Immigration Forum and the Bullfinch Group, 76% of registered voters said they’d support "Republicans and Democrats working together on immigration reforms that strengthen border security, allow immigrants brought to the United States as children to earn citizenship, and ensure a legal, reliable workforce for America’s farmers and ranchers." Only 14% opposed.
Support vs. opposition also is eye-opening among self-identified Republican voters (74%-16%) and white evangelical Protestants (79%-9%), with the remainder saying they were unsure.
Strong majorities also said they would support "the U.S. providing refuge for individuals and families fleeing serious persecution and torture" (68%-20% overall, 55%-35% among Republicans) and would agree "that welcoming newcomers to our communities is an American value" (71%-20% overall, 58%-33% among Republicans).
Full crosstabs are available for the survey of 1,000 registered voters and for a larger group comprising American adults, among whom results are similar.
"The desire to welcome immigrants remains strong," said Jennie Murray, President and CEO of the National Immigration Forum. "So does the need. When Republicans and Democrats come together to find solutions for border security, Dreamers and the farm workforce, they’ll do so with support from their voters.
"More and more Americans want the kinds of solutions Congress began to discuss late last year. The administration and Congress should work together in 2023 to make those solutions reality. Americans understand that security and compassion can and should stand side by side."
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The National Immigration Forum, in conjunction with The Bullfinch Group, conducted a nationwide online survey fielded Feb. 17-22, 2023, 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 margin of error for registered voters is ±3.1% at the 95% confidence interval. The margin of error for adults is ± 2.83% at the 95% confidence interval.
