(Washington) Only a few months after the return to power of President Donald Trump, against the backdrop of anti-immigration feeling, the proportion of American adults declaring that immigration is a “good thing” for the country has increased considerably, including among the Republicans, according to a new Gallup survey.
About 8 out of 10 Americans, or 79 %, believe that immigration is today a “good thing” for the country, against 64 % a year ago and a summit on a trend that has been going on for almost 25 years. Only 2 out of 10 out of 10 American adults believe that immigration is a bad thing today, compared to 32 % last year.
During the mandate of Democratic President Joe Biden, negative opinions on immigration had increased considerably, reaching a peak in the months preceding the coming to power of Donald Trump.
The new Gallup data suggest that American adults are coming back to more favorable opinions for immigrants, which could complicate Donald Trump’s campaign in favor of massive evictions and other anti-immigration policies. The survey reveals a drop in support for the type of massive evictions that Donald Trump has been advocating since his election.
Since entering into office, Donald Trump has called immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the United States to do everything to set up “the largest program of massive evictions in history”.
Its administration has also attempted to limit access to federal services for immigrants without legal status, sought to revoke the citizenship of immigrants from crimes and strives to suppress citizenship of birth for children born of parents without legal status or temporarily staying in the United States.
In general, the opinion of the Americans on immigration policies radically changed last year, according to the Gallup survey, including among the Republicans, which are much more satisfied with the levels of immigration since the arrival of Donald Trump in power, but who are also more favorable to the access to citizenship for people in an irregular situation.
The general trend also shows that public opinion is generally much more favorable to immigrants than a few decades ago. The vast majority of American adults believe that immigration is a good thing.
The more positive opinion of the Americans on immigration is mainly due to a change among the Republicans and the self -employed.
Photo Jim Watson, Agence France-Presse Archives
Since entering into office, Donald Trump has called immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to set up “the largest massive expulsion program in history”.
About two -thirds of the Republicans now estimate that immigrants are “a good thing” for the country, against 39 % last year. As for the self -employed, they went from around two thirds last year to 80 % this year.
Democrats have retained their extremely positive opinion on immigration in recent years.
The proportion of Americans wishing to lower immigration has decreased considerably.
Since Donald Trump’s arrival in power, Republicans have been more and more satisfied with the level of immigration to the United States.
The proportion of Americans wishing a “drop” of immigration to the United States increased from 55 % to 30 %. If fewer Americans now want a decrease in the number of people from other countries in the United States, more of them wish to maintain immigration levels than wish to increase these levels. About 4 out of 10 estimates that immigration should be maintained at its current level, and only 26 % believe that it should be increased.
The survey suggests that the virulent anti-immigration opinions of the Republicans, expressed before the November election-which contributed to the return of Donald Trump to the White House-were largely blurred. The share of the Republicans saying that immigration should be reduced from a summit of 88 % to 48 % last year. Nearly 4 out of 10 Republicans now estimate that immigration levels should remain unchanged, and only about 1 in 10 would like an increase.
A large part of this republican movement probably comes from the support of strict application of immigration legislation by the Trump administration, but certain signs, in the Gallup survey, also indicate that the Republicans have become more favorable to the access to citizenship for immigrants in an irregular situation in the country and more likely to perceive advantages related to immigration Trump administration priorities.
