A dramatic poll shows escalating public anger over the federal government’s berserk migration policy — and a sharp rise in GOP concerns about the pocketbook damage of migration.
Sixty-one percent of Americans told a Monmouth University poll that they view federal migration policy as a “very serious” issue, according to a press release, which added:
The 6 in 10 who describe it as a very serious problem represents a jump from [prior] polls … This rise is most notable among Republicans, from 66% very serious in 2015 to 77% in 2019 and 91% in the current poll.
Among independents, 58% say this is a very serious problem, up from just over 4 in 10 who said the same in both 2015 (42%) and 2019 (43%). A similar level of concern among Democrats now stands at 41%, after dipping from 33% in 2015 to 26% in 2019.
Respondents who say they have a “very” strong response to an issue are most likely to decide their vote on that issue.
An additional 23 percent say President Joe Biden’s migration is a “somewhat serious” problem. So the data shows that 84 percent of respondents — or six out of seven people — say Biden’s migration is a “very serious” or “somewhat serious” problem.
But the February 8-12 poll also showed that most GOP supporters also see Biden’s huge migration as an economic threat to families — not just as a dangerous mix of chaos, crime, and drugs.
A 53 percent majority of Republicans “are more likely to feel illegal immigrants take away desirable jobs than said the same nine years ago (39%),” the poll noted.
The 14 percent jump shows a fast-growing concern about migration’s pocketbook damage.
Many studies and business reports show that migration allows employers to cut Americans’ wages and transfer the wealth to investors and Wall Street. Migrants gain a much smaller share of that transferred wealth as low wages.
However, GOP leaders have long ignored the pocketbook damage from migration, partly because the party’s donors strongly back the inflow of more foreign workers, consumers, and renters.
In contrast, Democratic supporters echo their leaders’ claims that migrants are eager to take jobs not wanted by their fellow Americans.
“Democrats (91%) are more likely to say these immigrants take unwanted jobs than in 2015 (70%),” said the report. That 21-point shift since 2015 echoes the pro-migration statements from Democratic party leaders, such as Biden.
Independents are less politically active than partisans, so just 27 percent say migrants take wanted jobs away from Americans.
The Monmouth poll spotlights Americans’ increasing skepticism towards immigration and the 1960′ “Nation of Immigrants” narrative.
Forty-eight percent of Americans believe that Biden’s 5 million southern migrants will make American society “worse in the long run,” according to a CBS poll conducted January 3-5. Just 22 percent of Americans — but 44 percent of liberals — believe migration will make American society better.
Since 2021, Biden has imported one legal or illegal migrant for every American birth.
The Monmouth jobs question also exposed a class gap in attitudes towards migration.
Overall, 39 percent of white respondents without college degrees say migrants take jobs sought by Americans. But just 21 percent of whites with college degrees agree.
The Monmouth poll spotlights the growing mainstream recognition that the government-driven inflow of legal immigrants and illegal migrants is more of a burden than a benefit to ordinary Americans.
“Illegal immigration has taken center stage as a defining issue this presidential election year … [and] to be Biden’s weakest policy area, including among his fellow Democrats,” said Patrick Murray, director of the independent Monmouth University Polling Institute
