Most Say Trump’s Made It Harder for Illegal Immigrants, But Dems Aren’t Happy

Most voters agree it’s become harder for illegal immigrants to enter this country since President Trump took office, but Democrats are seemingly very unhappy with that.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey finds that 56% of Likely U.S. Voters believe it has become harder for illegal immigrants to enter the United States since Trump became president. Just eight percent (8%) think it’s easier now, while 29% view the illegal immigration situation as about the same. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Forty-four percent (44%) now rate the way Trump is handling issues related to immigration as good or excellent. Forty-three percent (43%) say he’s doing a poor job. These findings are little changed from July. Trump’s positives peaked at 48% in October of last year.

By comparison, President Obama received positive marks on immigration from 34% of voters in May of 2016, just months prior to Trump’s election.

But there’s a sharp partisan difference of opinion over how Trump is handling immigration issues. While 78% of Republicans think he’s doing a good or excellent job, 74% of Democrats view his performance as poor. Among voters not affiliated with either major party, 43% give the president positive marks; 40% think he’s doing a poor job.

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The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on September 25-26, 2019 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Seventy-three percent (73%) of voters consider illegal immigration a serious problem, with 47% who say it’s a Very Serious one. But voters remain closely divided over the need for – and effectiveness of – a southern border wall like the one Trump is building.

Most Democrats (54%) agree with 61% of Republicans and 51% of voters not affiliated with either major party that it’s harder now for illegal immigrants to get into the country.

But then voters in most demographic categories believe it’s harder now for illegal immigrants to enter the United States.

Among voters who think it’s harder now for illegal immigrants, 51% give Trump good or excellent marks for his handling of immigration issues.

As recently as January, voters still said it’s easier to enter and stay in the United States illegally than it is in most other countries.

Voters continue to believe the U.S. immigration system is broken and still tend to favor shifting to a skills-based system for legal immigration that Trump is proposing.

Voters are strongly opposed to government benefits and constitutional legal rights for those here illegally and think the availability of those things is a magnet for further illegal immigration. Most also oppose giving driver's licenses to illegal immigrants.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.

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