More Americans happy with current level of immigration

(TNND) — Public concerns over immigration seem to have eased, with fewer Americans desiring a drop in immigration and more viewing immigration as mostly a good thing for the country.

A new Gallup survey found 30% of Americans want to see less immigration, a drop from the 55% who held that view a year ago.

The poll found 38% are happy with the present level of immigration, up from 26% last year. That view is now the plurality.

And 26% now want to see more immigration, also up from 16% a year ago.

Most Americans, 79%, said immigration is good for the country. That’s a record-high in Gallup tracking that goes back to 2001. And it’s up from 64% a year ago.

“We don’t see such fluctuations very often in public opinion on issues,” said Todd Belt, the Political Management program director at George Washington University.

Belt said public opinion is driven by government performance.

Republicans like what they’re seeing, while independents and Democrats are seemingly concerned over the “heavy-handedness” of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement efforts.

President Donald Trump pledged to secure the border and crack down on illegal immigration.

Trump declared an “invasion” at the borderand directed officials to suspend crossings on his first day in office.

Since then, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has been busy arresting undocumented immigrants in American cities and towns. Immigrants with criminal backgrounds have been the priority, but any immigrant who isn’t authorized to be in the country might get swept up during a raid.

The administration says it’s making American cities safer. And it says Trump’s tough-on-immigration policies have resulted in record-low border crossings.

Belt noted that the administration just got another $145 billion in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” for immigration enforcement and border security efforts.

Belt said the administration is likely to go full steam ahead with its immigration enforcement policies. But he said the optics of the crackdown will matter to both the administration and the voters.

“This is why you saw (White House Press Secretary) Karoline Leavitt with pictures of self-driving cars in flames and other types of things behind her on the podium when she was talking about the protests (against ICE raids),” Belt said. “ … The administration knows that there is a war of imagery here. It’s not only about the numbers.”

A plurality of Republicans still want to see a decrease in immigration, but that share has dropped considerably from a year ago.

Gallup found that 48% of Republicans want less immigration, down 40 percentage points from last year.

Belt noted a corresponding increase in Republicans expressing happiness with the current levels of immigration, up to 36% from just 4% a year ago.

Forty percent of independents are now happy with the level of immigration, while 30% want it decreased. A year ago, over half of independents wanted to see immigration decreased.

Today, 64% of Republicans view immigration as a good thing for the U.S., up from 39% a year ago.

Eighty percent of independents view immigration as a good thing for the U.S., up from 66% a year ago.

Over 90% of Democrats see immigration as a good thing for the country.

Under 40% of people favor deporting all immigrants who are living in the U.S. illegally back to their home country, down nine percentage points from a year ago.

Most Republicans, 85%, approve of the way Trump is handling the immigration issue.

Just 28% of independents and 2% of Democrats approve of Trump’s handling of immigration.

Belt said some Americans might be less supportive of the immigration crackdown after seeing campaign rhetoric turn to real impacts in their communities.

“You can tell the story of how a person’s life is upended and changed and how they get separated from their family, that’s a lot more impactful than when it’s … a swarm coming over the border in the pictures that you’re seeing on the campaign advertisements,” Belt said.