North Carolina Voters Want Stronger Immigration Enforcement

A majority of North Carolina voters want stricter immigration enforcement and favor former President Donald Trump in this year’s presidential election by a significant margin. 

A new telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA finds that 81% of Likely North Carolina voters believe it is important for their state to use every tool available to combat illegal immigration, including 58% who think it’s Very Important.

Only 14% say it’s not important for North Carolina to use every available tool against illegal immigration. (To see survey question wording, click here.) 

An overwhelming majority (76%) of North Carolina voters say that, in trying to limit population growth by controlling illegal immigration, their state 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. Only 11% disagree, and another 13% are undecided. Furthermore,  69% agree that, if a business refuses to comply with the state’s E-Verify requirements, that company should lose its business license to operate in North Carolina.

“North Carolina voters across the board demand effective enforcement of the state’s mandatory E-Verify law,” said Andrew Good, director of State Government Relations for NumbersUSA. “It is long past time for the State Legislature and Governor [Roy] Cooper to ensure that employers in North Carolina are hiring only workers who are legally allowed to work in the state.”

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The survey of 1,053 North Carolina Likely Voters was conducted on May 26-27, 2024, 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.

Majorities of every political and demographic category – 77% of whites, 75% of black voters, 71% of Hispanics and other minorities, 90% of Republicans, 65% of Democrats and 70% of voters not affiliated with either major party – favor making E-Verify mandatory for all employers in North Carolina.

“E-Verify is not a partisan issue, it has a strong backing across party lines,” Good said. “It's high time for Governor Cooper to step up and enforce North Carolina’s E-Verify law, thereby safeguarding American workers.”

The immigration issue could have an important influence on this year’s presidential election. If the election were held now, former President Donald Trump would get 51% of North Carolina voters to 43% for President Joe Biden. Among those who would vote for Trump, 82% consider it Very Important for North Carolina to use every tool available to combat illegal immigration.

Among other findings of the Rasmussen Reports/NumbersUSA survey of North Carolina voters:

– Seventy-four percent (74%) agree that hiring illegal workers harms legal workers by reducing pay, diminishing working conditions, and making fewer jobs available to North Carolinians, including 53% who Strongly Agree. Just 21% disagree.

– Sixty-two percent (62%) believe that, when businesses say they are having trouble finding North Carolinians to take jobs in construction, manufacturing, hospitality, or seasonal work, it is general better for businesses to raise pay and try harder to recruit non-working North Carolinians even if it causes prices to rise. Twenty percent (20%) think it’s better for the government to bring in new foreign workers to help keep business costs and prices down. Nineteen percent (19%) are not sure.

– While 46% of North Carolina voters approve of the job Biden is doing as president, including 26% who Strongly Approve, 53% disapprove of Biden’s job performance, including 45% who Strongly Disapprove.

– Seventy-six percent (76%) would support a program that allowed state and local law enforcement agencies to partner with federal immigration authorities to better capture, detain, hold and deport criminal illegal aliens, including 50% who would Strongly Support such a program. Just 15% would be opposed.

– Sixty-five percent (65%) would support a state law to charge a fee for money transfers out of the United States to help reduce remittances – money sent by foreign workers to their home countries.

– Fifty percent (50%) say that, if their state representative voted against a bill mandating E-Verify, they would be less likely to support them in the future. Only 20% would be more likely to support their state representative for voting against E-Verify, while 20% say it doesn’t matter and 10% are not sure. Fifty-six percent (56%) North Carolina Republicans, 41% of Democrats and 52% of unaffiliated voters would be less likely to support a state representative who votes against an E-Verify bill.

In the wake of Trump’s conviction in the so-called “hush money” trial, a majority of Democrats want Judge Juan Merchan to sentence the former president to prison. 

Trump continues to lead Biden nationally, although the margin has shrunk in the past month – perhaps reflecting the impact of Trump’s recent trial in New York City. 

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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