Is Trump waving to the Mexicans? 🤣 pic.twitter.com/SX8noBh3Ps
— ALX 🇺🇸 (@alx) February 29, 2024
More Americans than ever see immigration as the biggest problem facing the country amid record-high levels of illegal entries under Joe Biden, which a majority see as a “critical threat”, a new poll has shown.
A Gallup survey conducted between February 1 and 20 found 28% of Americans now say immigration is the number one issue, an increase of 8% since January, and the highest percentage since the issue was first mentioned by the pollster in 1981.
Government was 1% higher last month on 21%, while “economy in general” is now seen as the third most important problem, overtaking inflation.
The last time immigration was ranked ahead of all other issues in the same poll was in 2019, during a surge of attempted border crossings.
As of the end of February at least 13.4 million illegal immigrants had entered the US under the Biden administration, and the actual number could be as high as 30.5 million, since estimates of undetected entries range from 32 to 70% of the total.
The same poll found that a 55% of Americans see illegal immigration as a “critical threat to the interests of the United States” – the highest proportion ever. The previous high of 50% was in 2004.
That includes 90% of Republicans, 54% of independents, and 29% of Democrats, up from 84%, 40% and 20% a year ago.
Republicans are also the group most likely to rank immigration as the most important problem at 57%, up from 37% in January. 22% of independents agree, up from 16%, compared to only 10% of Democrats.
By region, 36% of residents of the East chose immigration, followed by 31% of the South, 25% of the Midwest, and 22% of the West.
According to Pew Research, illegal immigrants made up 22% of the US foreign-born population in 2022.
Of the 47 million foreign-born residents, the lawful 78% was comprised of 23.1 million naturalised citizens, 11.6 million permanent residents, and 1.8 million temporary residents.
