New Poll Finds a Majority of America is Unhappy with Immigration

Gallup’s ‘Mood of the Nation’ Poll

From January 3-16, 2022, 811 randomly selected U.S. adults were asked to participate in Gallup’s annual ‘Mood of the Nation’ poll. The poll contacted American adults in all 50 states to ask them about their thoughts and feelings regarding the United State’s current political policies.

The latest results of the poll found that 58% of all Americans are dissatisfied with the current levels of immigrants coming into the United States. This dissatisfaction level is an 8% increase from last year’s poll which found that 50% of Americans were displeased with the current state of immigration in the United States.

Amongst the 58% of U.S. citizens who are unhappy with the current state of U.S. immigration, 35% stated that they would like to see immigration decrease (a big jump from the 19% of last year’s poll), 9% stated that they would like to see immigration increase (a decrease from 15% from last year’s poll), and 14% states that although unhappy with the immigration levels, they would prefer to keep it at the same level.

Anti-immigration Sentiment Amongst Political  Party Lines

Anti-immigration sentiment in the United States is the highest it has been since 2017. Amongst those most unhappy are Republican responders.

87% of responders who identified as Republican stated that they were dissatisfied with immigration levels in the United States (a sharp increase from last year’s disapproval rating of 55%). This level of dissatisfaction is the highest ever recorded by Gallup. Of the 87% who were dissatisfied, the majority 69% believed immigration should decrease, 15% believed the levels should stay the same, and only 3% of Republican responders believed that immigration levels should increase.

Democratic responders had a more optimistic view of U.S. immigration. The Gallup poll found that 52% of responders who identified as Democrats stated that they were satisfied with the current immigration levels while 40% voiced their dissatisfaction (a 7% drop from last year). Of this 40%, 15% believed immigration should be increased, 14% had no preference, and 11% believed that immigration should decrease.

Responders who identified as politically independent showed a 6% increase in dissatisfaction this year which 55% stating that they are unhappy with the current levels of immigration and believe that immigration should decrease.

Could the crisis at the U.S. southern border be clouding Americans’ judgment?

Although a majority of Americans have voiced their dissatisfaction with the current level of U.S. immigration and believe it should decrease, many of those who are unhappy are actually not knowledgeable of just how many immigrants actually enter the country each year.

According to research by the Migration Policy Institute, of the 1.7 million encounters between migrants and border/ports of entry officials, only around 500,000 migrants successfully enter the United States in 2021, meaning a majority were denied entry. Researchers believe that illegal crossing into the United States by undocumented migrants is actually at a historical low due to the pandemic and the previous President’s hostile immigration policies.

However, media images of migrant surges at the U.S. southern border led many Americans to believe that nation was being flooded by immigrants despite the actual fact that a majority of those immigrants were denied entry.