Polls on Immigration

Polls on Immigration

The polling company, for Negative Population Growth, phone poll September 23-27, 1999 (500 likely Florida voters, margin of error 4.4%).

Nearly 60 percent of Florida voters say adding another 5 million residents to Florida's population [the amount of increase now projected by 2025] is either an "extremely serious" or "serious" problem.
Over 70 percent believe Florida's overcrowding and overpopulation is a major problem.
68 percent agee that "Florida would be better-off in the long term with a smaller population to maintain a sound economy and a healthy environment."
A similar number want immigration scaled back.

Wall Street Journal/NBC News phone poll, Dec. 3-6, 1998 (margin of error 2.2%).
"Despite an unemployment rate that is the lowest in three decades, by a more than 3-to-1 margin respondents said the U.S. shouldn't allow more immigrants into the country because they take jobs that Americans should have ["should not" - 72%, "should" - 20%, "not sure" - 8%]. The opposition was equally overwhelming, 72% to 21%, to permitting skilled immigrants to move here to fill a shortage of trained workers in the computer industry -- an exception that the technology lobby just won from Congress and the White House."
(Source: Wall Street Journal, December 10, 1998)
[Respondents were asked which of two statements "you agree with more: (A) Some people believe that we should increase the number of immigrants who are let into the country, because they fill a number of jobs that many companies have trouble filling," OR" (B) Others believe that we should not increase the number of immigrants who are let in, because they will take jobs that Americans should have and will ultimately result in higher unemployment." The second question asked: "Many computer and software companies are experiencing a shortage of trained workers. Do you believe that we should or should not change our immigration policies to allow more people trained in these fields to come into the United States?"]

IEEE-USA/Harris Poll, Sept. 1998: (national sample of 1,000 adults)
Question: Do you favor or oppose Congress "allowing U.S. companies to sponsor 190,000 additional foreign technical workers as temporary employees for up to six years?"
Response: Favor -- 16 percent; Oppose -- 82 percent; Unsure -- 2 percent.
Question: Do you agree or disagree that "lower wages paid to temporary foreign workers harm U.S. professional wages?"
Response: Strongly or mostly agree -- 75 percent; Mostly or strongly disagree -- 23 percent; Unsure -- percent.
Question: Do you agree or disagree that "allowing companies to hire additional temporary foreign professionals reduces employment opportunities for U.S. technical workers?"
Response: Strongly or mostly agree -- 86 percent; Mostly or strongly disagree -- 13 percent: Unsure -- 1 percent.
Question: Do you agree or disagree that "without adding additional temporary foreign workers the United States might be forced to transfer work overseas?"
Response: Strongly or mostly agree -- 31 percent; Mostly or strongly disagree -- 66 percent; Unsure -- 3 percent.
(Source: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers-USA press release, September 16, 1988 -- connect to press release and POLL CHARTS)

Hart-Teeter poll for Wall Street Journal, February 1998:
Question: "Do you think immigration strengthens or weakens the American character?"
Response: By a margin of about three to two among 2,004 respondents, most said "weakens." There was no statistically significant difference between males and females, or whites and blacks supporting this view. But immigrants who responded disagreed. They thought they "strengthen" the U.S. by a margin of about 13 to seven.
(Source: Wall Street Journal, March 5, 1998)

NPG/Roper, January 1996:
83 percent favor a lower level of immigration.
70 percent favor a level of immigration below 300,000 a year (72 percent of Democrats, 70 percent of Republicans, 73 percent of Blacks and 52 percent of English-speaking Hispanics).
54 percent favor a level of immigration below 100,000 a year.

USA Today/Gallup, July 1995:
65 percent of Americans think that the level of immigration should be decreased.
61 percent of immigrant favor a national ID card.

Opinion Research Corporation, July 1995:
63 percent think our immigration policy is too generous.

Gallup International Poll, June 20, 1995:
Asked in 12 countries whether respondents would like to emigrate to another country and asked to identify the country, the following is a calculation of those who would become immigrants to the United States if they could:

COUNTRY        PCT. MOVE TO U.S.  NUMBER (1995 POP.)
Dominican Rep.       24.84           1,977,000
Venezuela            22.05           4,883,000
Mexico               13.95          13,699,000
Chile                 8.05           1,131,000
Canada                7.03           1,963,000
India                 7.02          65,369,000
U.K.                  6.08           3,529,000
Thailand              4.05           2,375,000
Hungary               3.00             318,000
France                2.94           1,689,000
Iceland               2.94               8,000
Spain                 1.00             390,000
                                    97,331,000

Extrapolating from these data, about 400 million person around the world would come to the United States if the doors were thrown oen to all comers. (The number might even be higher because developed countries are overrepresented in the survey, and the percentage who would emigrate is lower for these countries.)

CBS News/New York Times, September 1994:
63 percent of think that the level of immigration should be decreased (66 percent of Republicans, 60 percent of Democrats and 64 percent of Independents).

CBS News, January 1994:
65 percent see conditions in the U.S. as too difficult to allow immigrants who have nothing to come here.
53 percent think most recent immigrants cause problems.

Time/CNN, September 1993:
80 percent consider it important that the federal government track down illegal aliens living here.
73 percent think the United States should strictly limit immigration.
70 percent favor a border crossing fee.
65 percent favor spending more to tighten border security between the U.S. and Mexico.
60 percent favor changes in federal law to reduce the number of legal immigrants.
50 percent favor requiring all U.S. citizens to carry a national I.D. card.
49 percent favor a constitutional amendment to prevent automatic U.S. citizenship to children of alien parents born here.

Newsweek, July 1993:
59 percent think immigration was a good thing for this country in the past;
60 percent think immigration is a bad thing for this country today;
62 percent agree that immigrants take the jobs of U.S. workers;
59 percent agree that many immigrants wind up on welfare and raise taxes as a result.

CNN/USA Today/Gallup, July 1993:
65 percent feel that immigration should be decreased generally;
76 percent feel that immigration should be stopped or reduced until the economy improves.

Hispanic USA Research Group survey of Hispanic Americans, June 1993:
89 percent strongly support an immediate moratorium on immigration.
74 percent agree fewer immigrants should be allowed and support stronger restrictions.

New York Times/CBS News, June 1993:
61 percent feel that immigration should be decreased.

Latino National Political Survey, December 1992:
75 percent of Mexican-Americans agree there are too many immigrants to this country;
79 percent of Puerto Ricans agree;
65 percent of Cuban-Americans agree; and
74 percent of "Anglos" agree.

Wall St. Journal/NBC, December 1992:
71 percent favor cutting back on immigration.

Roper ("American Attitudes Toward Immigration"), April 1992:
54 percent think current law allows too many immigrants into the United States;
69 percent favor repeal of Congress' 1990 increase in the level of immigration;
55 percent favor a moratorium on further immigration.

Roper ("American Attitudes Toward Immigration"), June 1990:
48 percent think the number of immigrants admitted each year is too high;
73 percent think illegal immigration is a serious enough problem to require attention;
79 percent think Washington is not doing a good job in controlling illegal immigration.

Tarrance, ("Black and Hispanic Attitudes Toward Immigration Policy"), August 1983:
55 percent of Hispanics think immigration laws should be tougher;
69 percent of Blacks think illegal immigration hurts the job situation;
61 percent of Blacks think illegal immigration depresses wages and it is a major problem;
61 percent of Hispanics favor increasing money spent on patrolling the border;
69 percent of Blacks favor increasing money spent on patrolling the border.

Gallup, June 1976:
52 percent favor reducing the number of immigrants admitted each year;
74 percent think illegal immigration is a fairly serious problem.

Gallup, June 1965:
33 percent think the level of immigration should be decreased.

FAIR, 10/99.