Americans want legal immigration cut in half, poll finds

Americans want to see illegal immigrant [illegal alien] young adults given legal status [amnesty], but they are far less forgiving to most others, and want to see a huge reduction in legal immigration as well, according to a new poll released last week by a group that wants to see an immigration crackdown.

Other public polls have shown voters increasingly open to granting illegal immigrants a path to citizenship [amnesty for illegal aliens], and even place that on equal footing with securing the border — but the new poll suggests Americans’ views are too complex to be captured in a single broad question...

One question specifically asked if Americans were prepared to pay higher prices if that’s what it took for businesses to pay American workers, rather than bring in immigrant labor. The survey found 68 percent ready to pay more, while just 14 percent wanted to see immigrants pick up the slack and keep prices lower...

Still, other polls show, that while increasing immigration is a minority view, the number has been increasing. Until about the year 2000, Gallup polling found single-digit support for higher legal immigration. But Gallup’s most recent survey earlier this month found 27 percent wanted to see an increase...^*

In contrast, the NumbersUSA poll found 59 percent said they want to see all border and interior enforcement in place before Congress grants work permits to illegal immigrants...

As for illegal immigration, the NumbersUSA poll did find substantial support for legalizing young adults, known as “Dreamers,” who were brought to the U.S. as children...

The NumbersUSA poll was conducted Feb. 11-12 by Pulse Opinion Research. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

CAIRCO Notes

* See Spinning a poll - how would you deal with illegal aliens?, CAIRCO Blog post by Fred Elbel, February 20, 2014.