Arizona Midterm Voters Want Stricter Immigration Controls 

Most of those who voted in Arizona’s 2022 midterm elections support policies to strengthen border protection and limit legal immigration.

A new telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA finds that 58% of Arizona midterm voters believe the government is doing too little to reduce illegal border crossings and visitor overstays. Only nine percent (9%) say the government is doing too much immigration enforcement, while 21% rate the current level of action as about right. Another 11% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Significantly, a majority of Arizona’s independent voters support stronger action to reduce illegal immigration. Fifty-eight percent (58%) of Arizona midterm voters not affiliated with either major party think the government is doing too little border enforcement, an opinion shared by 79% of Republicans and 35% of Democrats in Arizona.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of 2022 Arizona midterm voters believe that, in trying to control illegal immigration, it is important to greatly increase the physical barriers such as walls and fencing on the U.S. border with Mexico, including 47% who say strengthening border barriers is Very Important. Eighty-nine percent (89%) of Republicans, 41% of Democrats and 59% of unaffiliated voters in Arizona say increasing physical barriers on the border is at least somewhat important to controlling illegal immigration.

“When voters of all political persuasions are given concrete solutions to immigration challenges, they enthusiastically back those solutions,” said NumbersUSA CEO James Massa, offering one example from the survey data. “When Arizona Democrats were asked the abstract question of whether they favored policies that would prevent illegal immigration, they split evenly. When asked about a proven solution of whether they favored requiring every employer to use E-Verify to prevent the hiring of illegal workers, Arizona Democrats favored that policy by a 3-1 margin."

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook. The survey of 874 Arizona 2022 midterm voters was conducted on November 8-9, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA. 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.

While Arizona voters are divided on the general question whether they favor policies that increase legal immigration into the U.S. (41%) or reduce levels of legal immigration (45%), when asked specifically about numbers, most support reducing the current level.

Nearly two-thirds of Arizona 2022 midterm voters favor reducing legal immigration, which has averaged around a million annually in recent years. Fifteen percent (15%) want to increase the number of new immigrants over one million. Another nine percent (9%) are comfortable with one million newcomers each year. Sixty-five percent (65%), however, believe the government should be adding no more than 750,000 new immigrants annually, with 51% who say it should be fewer than 500,000, including 35% who want fewer than 250,000 new immigrants yearly. Another 11% are not sure.

Significantly, even a majority (52%) of Arizona Democrats would prefer to reduce legal immigration below 750,000 a year, as would 78% of Republicans and 60% of unaffiliated voters.

Among other findings of the Ramussen Reports/NumbersUSA survey:

– Fifty-eight percent (58%) of voters in Arizona said immigration was one of their top three issues in their midterm choice of congressional candidates, including 16% who said immigration was their top issue in deciding their vote for U.S. representative. Eighty percent (80%) of Republicans, 34% of Democrats and 55% of unaffiliated voters ranked immigration among their top three issues in the midterms.

– By more than a 3-to-1 margin, Arizona midterm voters favor immigration policies that prevent illegal border crossings and illegal immigrants from getting jobs in the U.S. (66%) compared to favoring policies that allow illegal border crossings and illegal immigrants getting jobs (20%). While strong majorities of Republicans (90%) and unaffiliated voters (62%) favor policies that prevent illegal immigration, Democrats are evenly divided, with 41% for preventing illegal immigration and 41% in favor of allowing illegals to cross the border and get jobs in the U.S.

– Only 26% of Arizona midterm voters rate President Joe Biden’s administration either good (15%) or excellent (11%) on handling the issue of illegal immigration. Nineteen percent (19%) give the Biden administration a fair rating on the issue, while 50% say the administration has done a poor job of handling illegal immigration.

– Seventy-four percent (74%) of Arizona midterm voters think that, in trying to control illegal immigration, the government should mandate that all employers use the federal electronic E-Verify system to help ensure that they hire only legal workers for U.S. jobs. Mandating use of E-Verify for all employers is supported by majorities of every political and racial category – 88% of Republicans, 63% of Democrats, 70% of unaffiliated voters, 75% of whites, 65% of black voters, 71% of Hispanics and 88% of other minorities.

– Arizona voters overwhelmingly favor ending so-called “chain migration.” Only 25% favor current U.S. immigration policy which allows documented immigrants to bring in not just their spouse and children but also eventually other adult relatives that can include extended family and their spouses’ families. Sixty-four percent (64%) of Arizona midterm voters are opposed to current policy and think documented immigrants should be able to bring only their spouse and children with them. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

– Arizona voters are divided over proposals to provide amnesty for illegal immigrants. Forty-four percent (44%) favor giving lifetime work permits to most of the estimated 12 million illegal residents of all ages who currently reside in the United States, with 17% who Strongly Favor it. Forty-eight percent (48%) are opposed, including 31% who are Strongly Opposed. More than two-thirds (72%) of Democrats at least somewhat favor amnesty, while majorities of both Republicans (71%) and unaffiliated voters (50%) are against amnesty for illegals.

President Biden’s strongest supporters are most favorable to granting amnesty for illegal immigrants. Among Arizona midterm voters who Strongly Approve of Biden’s job performance as president, 77% favor giving lifetime work permits to most of the estimated 12 million illegal residents who currently reside in the United States. By contrast, among those who Strongly Disapprove of Biden’s performance, 78% are opposed to granting amnesty to undocumented immigrants.

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to the public as well as to Platinum Members.

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The survey of 874 Arizona 2022 midterm voters was conducted on November 8-9, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA from randomly sourced and anonymous online panel and landline phone respondents. The poll was demographically weighted with a combination of gender, race and age and then normalized using respondents’ vote in the 2022 gubernatorial election. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence.