A staple issue in American politics, the debate around immigration has once again been attracting national attention with calls for nationwide “Day Without Immigrants” protests on Feb. 14. Though the protests are meant to pressure the Biden administration into bringing about a change in immigration policies, how much demand among Americans is there for reform?
A new poll from Gallup sheds some light on this question, with nearly 6/10 (58 percent) of those surveyed either very or somewhat dissatisfied with the level of immigration into the U.S. today. This popular discontent with the status quo represents an 8 percentage– point increase from last year and a return to similar levels during 2019.
This dissatisfaction was most prevalent among Republicans with 87 percent being dissatisfied, though a majority of independents (55 percent) and a significant minority of Democrats (40 percent) expressed the same. This percentage for Republicans is the highest ever recorded for this question. Among the 58 percent dissatisfied, 35 percent want to decrease current levels of immigration, 14 percent want it to remain the same, and 9 percent want it to increase.
It is notable that on balance, though most Americans want immigration reform, the largest share of respondents (48 percent) still wants current levels of immigration to remain the same.