The public does not like President Donald Trump’s plan to sell “Gold Card” citizenships to wealthy foreigners, according to a Rasmussen poll.
The Gold Card plan is strongly supported by only 22 percent of likely voters, including just 38 percent of Republicans, according to the February 27 to March 3 poll of 1,180 likely voters.
The plan to sell Gold Cards for $5 million is strongly opposed by 33 percent of all respondents, including 36 percent of “moderates.”
Overall, the plan is strongly or somewhat backed by 41 percent and opposed by a plurality of 47 percent.
That opposition matches the national mood, which is increasingly opposed to economic migration and its myriad pocketbook and civic costs to ordinary Americans. The Gold Card proposal is also spotlighting the growing opposition to the H-1B program that has created a large number of Indian hiring managers at U.S. companies.
The administration’s plan was developed by Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, a former Wall Street investor. Trump is pitching it as a way to cut the deficit and import job-creating investors: “They’ll be successful and they’ll be spending a lot of money and paying a lot of taxes and employing a lot of people.”
Trump is also pitching the Gold Card as a way to steer foreign graduates of U.S. colleges into U.S. jobs. “We can keep them in our country instead of having them being forced out … and not being allowed to stay and create tremendous numbers of jobs and great success for a company out there,” he said in his March 4 speech to Congress.
The plan requires approval from Congress, and there is much doubt the plan would attract investors or younger graduates, partly because there are several cheaper ways to acquire U.S. citizenship.
The Rasmussen poll asked: “President Trump has suggested replacing an existing visa program for foreign investors with a “gold card” visa that would cost $5 million. Do you approve or disapprove of the “gold card” visa plan?”
Among political activists, his plan is opposed by 62 percent of Democrats and is strongly supported by only 38 percent of conservatives and Republicans.
The plan is strongly backed by 53 percent of people who “strongly approve” of Trump. But it gets only 13 percent strong approval from people who somewhat support Trump
The strongest opposition comes from progressives, who usually favor the inflow of uneducated migrants from alien cultures in developing countries, such as Afghanistan. Fifty percent of progressives strongly oppose the plan while just 7 percent strongly support the plan.
The broad opposition to the plan may be driven by the recognition that citizenship is not a thing that can be sold because it requires mutual obligations unrelated to wealth or skill.
But the opposition is also caused by populist sympathy for striving migrants and matching suspicion of privileged wealthy.
The Rasmussen poll asked a second question: “Which is better for America, poor immigrants who work for a living, or rich immigrants who bring investment money to the country?”
Forty-three percent said “work for a living,” and 33 percent picked “bring investment money.
Sixty-two percent of Democrats chose “work for a living,” while 49 percent of Republicans picked “bring investment money.”
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