Public Ambivalent About New Immigrants

GALLUP NEWS SERVICE

PRINCETON, NJ -- By an almost two-to-one margin, Americans say that immigration is a good, rather than bad, thing for this country today. Yet, the public is about evenly divided as to whether immigration should be curtailed, as opposed to being kept at its current level or increased. Americans are also divided as to whether immigrants in the long run become productive citizens and pay their fair share of taxes or cost the government too much money by using too many public services, and whether immigrants mostly help or hurt the economy. As for illegal immigrants, most Americans oppose making it easier for them to become citizens.

These results come from a Gallup survey conducted June 6-25, 2005, which included large oversamples of both blacks and Hispanics. The poll finds that Hispanics are much more favorable toward immigration and the impact of immigrants than are either blacks or non-Hispanic whites.

The poll shows that 46% of Americans want immigration into the United States to decline, while 16% say it should be increased and another 34% would keep it at the current level.

In your view, should immigration be kept at its present level, increased, or decreased?

These views have varied little during the past four years, with the percentage saying immigration should be decreased varying from a low of 41% in 2001 to a high of 49% in 2002 and 2004.

In the early and mid-1990s, anti-immigration sentiment was considerably more widespread than it is now. Also, the public rated the economy much more negatively then than they do now.

Despite the current caution about the rate of immigration, 61% of Americans say that immigration is a good thing for this country today, while only 34% say it is a bad thing. Gallup's polls during the past four years have consistently shown a substantial margin giving a positive evaluation of immigration.

On the whole, do you think immigration is a good thing or a bad thing for this country today?

Despite the general positive view about immigration, Americans are about evenly divided about the economic impact of more immigrants into this country.

One question shows that 49% believe immigrants in the long run become productive citizens and pay their fair share of taxes, while 44% disagree.

Which comes closer to your point of view -- [ROTATED immigrants in the long-run become productive citizens and pay their fair share of taxes, (or) immigrants cost the taxpayers too much by using government services like public education and medical services?]

Views were much more negative in the early 1990s, when substantial majorities of Americans expressed the more negative view -- that immigrants cost taxpayers too much money. Those negative results could have reflected the more dire economic conditions that many people were experiencing compared with the economic situation in recent years.

Americans today are also divided on whether immigrants mostly help the economy by providing low cost labor, or hurt the economy by driving wages down. Last year, Americans expressed the more negative assessment by greater than a two-to-one margin (65% said immigrants hurt the economy, while 30% said they helped). This year, the margin is more modest -- 49% say immigrants hurt, 42% say they help the economy.

Do you think immigrants -- [ROTATED: mostly help the economy by providing low cost labor, (or) mostly hurt the economy by driving wages down for many Americans?

The low marks in 2004 could partially be the result of the presidential campaign, during which Democrats criticized Republicans and President George W. Bush for the state of the economy. In 1993, Gallup recorded a similarly low evaluation of immigrants, at a time when the public's rating of the economy was much lower than it is today.

While Americans are generally divided over the economic impact of immigrants, they are decidedly against making it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens. Just 28% want to make it easier, while 70% are opposed.

Hispanics Much More Favorable to Immigration Than Non-Hispanic Whites and Blacks

The poll shows relatively small differences in attitudes about immigration and the impact of immigrants between blacks and non-Hispanic whites. But it shows a major gulf in attitudes between Hispanics and the other two groups.

Only 32% of Hispanics want to curtail immigration, compared with 44% of blacks and 50% of non-Hispanic whites.

While 74% of Hispanics say that immigration is a good thing for the country today, just 60% of non-Hispanic whites and 55% of blacks agree.

Blacks and non-Hispanic whites are about evenly divided as to whether immigrants ultimately pay their fair share of taxes. Most Hispanics take a positive view -- 66% say immigrants do pay their fair share, while only 27% disagree.

Blacks are most likely to say that immigrants hurt rather than help the economy, by 66% to 26%. A smaller majority of non-Hispanic whites agree, by 52% to 39%. But most Hispanics take the opposite point of view, saying that immigrants help rather than hurt the economy by 66% to 27%.

Finally, large majorities of both blacks (67%) and non-Hispanic whites (79%) are opposed to making it easier for illegal immigrants to become citizens, while a large majority of Hispanics (70%) takes the opposite point of view.

Survey Methods

Results are based on telephone interviews with 2,264 National Adults, aged 18 and older, conducted June 6-25, 2005, including oversamples of blacks and Hispanics that are weighted to reflect their proportions in the general population. For results based on the total sample of National Adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.

Results for the sample of 807 non-Hispanic whites, aged 18 and older, are based on telephone interviews conducted June 6-25, 2005. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±7 percentage points.

Results for the sample of 802 blacks, aged 18 and older, are based on telephone interviews conducted June 6-25, 2005. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.

Results for the sample of 511 Hispanics, aged 18 and older, are based on telephone interviews conducted June 6-25, 2005. For results based on the total sample, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points. (181 out of the 511 interviews with Hispanics were conducted in Spanish).

In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.