Almost 60 percent of Republican voters want fewer or no legalized migrants, according to a new poll for The Economist magazine.
The poll showed that 15 percent of GOP voters prefer zero legalized migrants, while 42 percent want fewer legal migrants, says the April 8-10 poll of 1,748 adults by YouGov. Only 5 percent want more legalized immigrants each year.
The trend in the GOP is bad news for business lobbies and legislators — such as Rep. Maria Salazar (R-FL) and Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) — who are pushing for a much greater inflow of wage-cutting, rent-raising migrants.
But there is a deep partisan divide in the migration polls.
A plurality of Democrats want even more limits on immigrants, according to the YouGov poll. Thirty-eight percent of Democrats want more legalized migration, and only 8 percent want less legal migration. Just two percent want zero migration.
Independent voters lean more toward Republicans on this issue than Democrats. Twenty-one percent of independents want less legal migration, and 6 percent want legal migration reduced to zero, according to YouGov. Just 19 percent of independents want more legalized migration.
In all three groups, large blocs say they want migration to be “kept the same” (31 percent) or else declare they are “not sure” (17 percent). But those blocs are usually not informed or very motivated about the issue, and likely will decide their votes on other issues. Many will not vote at all.
Opposition to migration rises when Americans are told the massive scale of legal migration, which adds up to roughly one legal immigrant for every four new births in the United States.
Overall, 21 percent of adults want more migrants, while 24 percent say they want reductions, and eight percent want to end legal immigration.
Still, many swing voters dislike the televised display of tough tactics that are sometimes needed to deport illegal migrants.
Yet, many voters increasingly recognize how elites use migration to force low wages and high rents on ordinary Americans. In March, a poll of 2,000 likely voters commissioned by the Immigration Accountability Project showed that:
- 79.9% (67.2% of Hispanic voters) support escalating penalties for businesses that repeatedly violate immigration hiring laws.
- 82.3% (74.4% of Hispanic voters) support the federal government notifying employers when social security numbers don’t match government records.
- 70.3% (62.0% of Hispanic voters) support strengthening worksite enforcement.
- 77.9% (72.1% of Hispanic voters) support requiring employers to use E-Verify to ensure their new hires are legally authorized to work.
That recognition was key to the GOP’s win in 2024 — and to its future clout, the poll showed:
- 82% of Trump voters said his promise to conduct the largest mass deportation operation in American history made them more likely to vote for him.
- 86.7% of Trump voters support Pres. Trump exceeding Pres. Eisenhower’s deportation effort that resulted in one-third of illegal aliens leaving the country.
- 74.0% of Trump voters said they’ll be more likely to vote for a Republican candidate in the 2026 midterm elections if the Trump Administration deports more than 1 million illegal aliens this year.
Under Donald Trump’s low-migration, high-deportation economy, Americans’ wages are up, housing costs are down, inflation has been declining, transport costs have been shrinking, crime is dropping, and corporations are spending heavily to help Americans become more productive and earn more wages for each working hour.
For example, the Wall Street Journal described on April 12 how restaurants are buying robots and raising wages to keep dishwashing crews from quitting:
Some restaurants give dishwashers a cut of tip pools or service fees to pad their hourly pay. Others provide meals and opportunities to move up in the kitchen.
Chicago-based John’s Food and Wine, which serves a $52 red snapper and an $83 steak, charges a 20% service fee across all orders, divided up among hourly staff. Last year, the restaurant’s dishwashers averaged earnings of $70,000 as a result.
“They are highly valued and their value comes with being paid well,” said Tom Rogers, the restaurant’s co-owner. The restaurant has had two of its three dishwashers since around the time it opened two years ago.
Restaurant Business Online reported on January 23 that Trump’s deputies are raising voters’ wages by deporting illegal migrants: “Fewer workers mean restaurants will once again have to compete for employees the only way they can, by paying higher wages. Wages over the next two years are expected to accelerate, according to Oxford Economics, from 3.7% this year to 5.6% by 2027.”
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