Polls: Majority of Americans want troops sent to border, oppose illegal immigration

By Bethany Blankley
The central square

Polls consistently show that the Biden-Harris administration’s border policies are at stake on two key points: Americans not only overwhelmingly oppose illegal immigration, but also want troops sent to the southern border and the border secured.

Two recent polls support this trend, though polls have consistently shown that Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of Vice President Kamala Harris’s role as “border czar.”

A new poll from Neapolitan News Service finds that 84% of registered voters believe “illegal immigration is bad for the United States,” compared to just 12% who say it is good.

The ratio of opposition/support to illegal immigration has “remained largely unchanged for decades,” the news service said.

The overwhelming majority of respondents, 71 percent, said they support legal immigration, arguing that it is good for the country. Those who oppose illegal immigration say it hurts Americans.

“That view has also been stable for decades. Voters make a clear distinction between legal and illegal immigration,” the news service said.

The main reason for opposition: crime. Of those polled, 49% cited crime as a top concern; 28% said illegal immigration lets criminals and terrorists into the country; 26% said it is a burden on the economy and health care; 16% said it lets in people who are dangerous; and 5% said it lets in drugs and dealers.

“Overall, these numbers reflect the fact that voters see America as a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws,” said Scott Rasmussen, president of RMG Research. “Voters understand why most immigrants want to bring their families to the land of opportunity. But they are angry at the federal government for allowing and encouraging illegal immigration.”

In a separate poll, 75% said they support sending U.S. troops to “challenge drug cartels and secure the border.”

“That’s a significant increase since President Biden took office and the total includes 90% Republicans and 62% Democrats,” according to Neapolitan News Service.

The findings are consistent with those of several other polls.

A recent Rasmussen Reports poll found that nearly two-thirds of respondents believe the crisis at the southern border should be called an invasion. Large majorities said border security is a vital national security interest (70%) and acknowledged that what is happening is a crisis (72%).

This is after Texas changed the conversation about the border, introducing the term and concept of invasion to the American public, with 55 counties announcing an invasion. Sixty counties also issued disaster declarations citing the border crisis.

A recent report from the Monmouth University Polling Institute found that a majority of respondents said they support building a border wall, a policy that former President Donald Trump implemented and that Biden ended on his first day in office. The majority of respondents, more than 80%, said illegal immigration is “a very serious (61%) or somewhat serious (23%) problem.”

“Public concern about illegal immigration is higher during President Joe Biden’s tenure than under the previous two administrations,” the institute said.

A University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll found that a majority of Texans, including Hispanics and blacks, support building a wall and border security measures. It also found that Democrats in Texas are increasingly supportive of Trump.

In total, 65% of all Texas voters said they approve of building a wall and barriers in Texas; 57% favor placing buoys in the Rio Grande River in Texas; and 66% favor deploying additional state police and military resources to the border.

The UT/TPP poll finds that a majority of Hispanic voters in Texas, 56%, also disapprove of Biden’s handling of immigration and border security.

Another UT/TPP poll found that Texas residents overwhelmingly support Governor Greg Abbott’s border security efforts through Operation Lone Star. This includes supporting Texas in installing maritime barriers, building a border wall and physical barriers on the Texas-Mexico border, deploying additional resources to the border, and busing illegal aliens north.

The findings echo those of polling conducted by The Center Square Voters’ Voice in partnership with Noble Predictive Insights. A poll from last year found that 82% of Americans are concerned about border security. Of those, 50% said the border crisis was getting worse under the Biden-Harris administration.

Another report from March found that 62% of voters believe the U.S. is headed in the wrong direction under the Biden-Harris administration. And yet another report shows that illegal immigration is nearly as big a concern as the high costs of inflation.

Another poll from Voter’s Voice found that Americans want states to play a role in border security, supporting the right of Texas and other states to secure their borders.