Voters say closing border best way to limit illegal immigration

(NewsNation) — Nearly one-third of Americans think shutting down the southern border is the best way to deter illegal immigration, and more voters see it as a major issue heading into the 2024 election, according to the most recent NewsNation/Decision Desk HQ poll.

Closing the border was the most popular policy proposal (30%) among those surveyed, followed by building a border wall (18%) and expanding the number of available green cards (16%).

The new poll shows voters have become more worried about immigration over the past year, with 30% now saying it’s a bigger problem than inflation, crime and unemployment. Last spring, just 18% of respondents felt that way. Older respondents over 55 were especially likely to rank immigration atop the list of problems (42%).

“These issues are becoming more salient across party lines,” said Scott Tranter, director of data science for Decision Desk HQ.

Given that older Americans are more likely to vote, immigration and border security could have an outsized impact on the next election, Tranter added.

Despite the widespread concern, Congress has been unable to agree on a border deal — a gridlock that has become a political liability for President Joe Biden.

Since Biden took office, the number of migrants illegally crossing into the U.S. has swelled to record highs. It’s a surge the president has struggled to disentangle himself from after taking more than 500 executive actions related to immigration through his first three years in office.

Rather than continue using his executive authority, Biden has pushed for better coordination with Mexican authorities, which has yielded some positive results in recent months. The president’s budget proposal also includes more funding for personnel and resources at the southern border.

Still, respondents in the latest survey backed former President Donald Trump (46%) over Biden (26%) to handle the southern border. Republicans and Democrats each preferred their respective candidate, but among political independents surveyed, Trump was favored by more than 20 points on border issues.

A recent Harris Poll commissioned by Axios found over half of all Americans favor the mass deportation of people who are in the country illegally.

Republicans and Democrats also disagree about what to call people in the country without proper authorization. GOP respondents were more on the same page, with (62%) preferring the term “illegal immigrant.” Meanwhile, Democrats were divided — roughly 33% favored “undocumented immigrant,” 26% said “illegal immigrant,” and 20% chose “undocumented person.”

Regarding specific immigration concerns, a plurality of respondents (27%) worried that an uptick in migrants leads to more people on government welfare. However, an almost equal share (26%) said they don’t have any concerns about people immigrating to the U.S.

As far as U.S. elections, most respondents (62%) were concerned about immigrants voting illegally, including 69% of Republicans, 57% of independents and 38% of Democrats, although multiple studies have found noncitizen voting is extremely rare.

Americans also perceive immigration differently when thinking about the topic locally versus nationally. Most respondents (61%) “somewhat” or “strongly” agreed that immigration has had a negative impact on the country as a whole, whereas a smaller share of those surveyed felt that way (47%) when asked about the impact on their own community.