How the Political Parties Have Realigned on Immigration

Report Issue

Please complete the required fields.

Your Name

Email

Reason (required)
This post contains broken linksPost has incorrect informationPost has spamCopyright IssueOther

Description

Submit

Today, Democrats and Republicans could not stand farther apart on immigration. In 2022 Gallup polls, 86 percent of Republicans said they were worried about illegal immigration, compared to 38 percent of Democrats. For many Republicans heading to the polls this fall, the border looms as an unprecedented national crisis.

In 2001, by contrast, Democrat and Republican views on immigration were more aligned. That year, illegal immigration worried 56 percent of Democrats and 51 percent of Republicans. At the time, few in either party worried about immigrants all that much. “It’s really only in the last decade that immigration has been viewed as a number-one issue facing the country by, really, anyone,” said Justin Gest, associate professor of policy and government at George Mason University.

Today, immigration touches a cultural nerve with both parties. Yet, not long ago, the immigration debate was mostly about economics. Pro-labor Democrats feared undocumented immigrants might steal jobs and undercut wages for Americans. Pro-business Republicans embraced immigrants for their ability to fill low-wage jobs. A parade of Republican presidents and candidates, from Ronald Reagan to George W. Bush to John McCain, ran on pro-immigration platforms.

Six years later, the border wall remains incomplete and illegal crossings stand at an all-time high. Border agents tracked 2.8 million illegal entries in the fiscal year that ended in September, breaking the previous record by more than 1 million. Agents detained travelers from across the globe, many fleeing unstable economies in Central and South America and beyond.

Paradoxically, given the current climate among conservatives, overall American support for immigration runs high. The share of Americans who believe immigration is good for the country reached 77 percent in 2020, the last year of the Trump presidency, up from 57 percent in 2010. It dipped to 70 percent in 2022.

The national goodwill toward immigrants reflects near-unanimous support among Democrats, many of whom now associate anti-immigrant sentiment with xenophobia or worse. Yet, in the latest Gallup poll on the subject, 46 percent of Republicans agreed with the Democrats that immigration is a net positive.