26 MARCH 2021
New National Poll: Biden’s Solutions on the Border Supported by Americans, Disapprove of Republican Obstructionism
As Republicans Focus on Border to Attack Biden Administration, New Polling Shows Continued Strong Support for Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants and Belief that GOP is Playing Politics with the issue.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — As Republican senators stage another political stunt at the border to continue attacking the current administration, new polling shows that the American people support President Biden’s immigration plans to address the broken immigration system his administration inherited.
“Yesterday at a White House press conference, President Biden laid out the facts on the situation at the border, along with his principles and what he is doing to fix it. This is exactly in line with what Americans want according to our new poll.” said Sergio Gonzales, Executive Director of the Immigration Hub. “Rather than working with President Biden, Republicans are staging another photo op and riding boats armed with machine guns along the border to score cheap political points. We know where this is going - it’s a formula: create the optics of chaos to block immigration legislation with citizenship for immigrants, return to a gutted, un-American asylum process and undermine legal immigration while attempting to score political points. But just like in 2018 when Donald Trump tried using the caravan to scare voters, our polling shows Republicans will fail again at weaponizing immigration for their own electoral benefit. With the announcement of Vice President Harris’s new role leading efforts to address root causes of migration, the Biden administration and Democrats can move us forward with a modern, fair immigration system that all of America can be proud of.”
Among the top findings, the national survey, conducted by Global Strategy Group this week, found:
While voters view the situation at the southern border as a serious and urgent one, the majority support Biden’s plans. 30% of voters are unsure of where Biden currently stands, however, once voters hear Biden’s stance on the border, they are very supportive of it – 63% approve (28% disapprove) of Biden’s approach to the border:
President Biden says that what is happening at the border is a direct result of a broken immigration system that has been ignored for too long. That's why Biden is working to safely and securely manage the southern border with new investments in technology and infrastructure, while also addressing the root causes of migration and building capacity to process migrants and children in a humane way that is in line with American values.
Voters see Republicans as blocking President Biden on immigration when they want to see Republicans working with the President. By a 47% to 23% margin, voters see Republicans in Congress as “blocking President Biden from taking action” instead of working “with Biden on bipartisan solutions.” But they want the opposite -- by a 62% to 25% margin, they want Republicans to be working with Biden instead of blocking him.
If Republicans are unwilling to come to the table and help fix the problem, the public would prefer Biden solve the problem without Republican support than to do little on it. 64% prefer Biden and the Democrats “focus on doing what’s necessary to fix the country’s immigration system, even if it means doing so without Republican support.”
Support for citizenship proposals for a range of undocumented workers is holding strong, even in the face of the situation at the border. 67% of voters (including 64% of Independents) support the DREAM Act , 67% of voters (including 71% of Independents) support citizenship for undocumented essential workers, and 65% of voters (including 62% of Independents) support citizenship for undocumented farm workers
Voters see these citizenship proposals as an opportunity to help America’s economic recovery. By a strong margin, 64% of voters surveyed see providing a pathway to citizenship to the aforementioned groups as helping our economic recovery over hurting it.
Nick Gourevitch, Partner and Managing Director at Global Strategy Group added, “This research shows that while voters see the situation at the border as a serious one, what they want most is solutions to fix the problem in a humane and orderly way. They clearly support President Biden’s solutions on the border and see Republicans as only working to block what the President is trying to do, opening up a vulnerability for conservatives should they continue to obstruct at every turn.”
Republicans in 2018 attempted to distract voters with caravan hyperboles and fear mongering over immigrants, and the results failed to deliver any substantial wins for them. Now, as Texas senators and 17 other GOP senators plan to visit the border, Republicans are trying to dismiss four years of a Trump administration that failed to equip agencies with a proper infrastructure to process migrants and instead instituted over 1,000 policies aimed at dismantling the asylum and legal immigration process, among other issues meant to exacerbate America’s immigration system.
Read the full memo for further details on the study.
Methodology
Global Strategy Group conducted an online survey of 1,000 nationwide voters between March 18-22, 2021. The survey had a confidence interval of +/- 3.1%. All interviews were conducted via web-based panel. Care has been taken to ensure the geographic, political, and demographic divisions of the electorate are properly represented.
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The Immigration Hub is a national organization dedicated to advancing fair and just immigration policies through strategic leadership, innovative communications strategies, legislative advocacy and collaborative partnerships.