For the first time since 2005, a majority of Americans believe immigration levels should decrease, according to a Gallup poll conducted in June.
The research found55 percent of respondents want a reduction in immigration, 25 percent want levels to remain the same and 16 percent want immigration to increase, the lowest level since 2009. This represents a sharp drop from the peak of 34 percent. percent in May 2020 and 33 percent in June 2020. that same year, the only two months on record in which more respondents wanted immigration levels to increase than to decrease.
The record low level in the number of respondents wanting to reduce immigration occurred in May 2020, when only 28 percent of respondents said they wanted to reduce immigration.
Between 1993 and 1995, support for reducing immigration peaked, with 65 percent of respondents supporting the idea.
Support for increasing or decreasing immigration over the past three decades closely tracks the issue’s prominence in national politics.
The 65 percent peak of support for reducing immigration in the mid-1990s was a period leading up to the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigration Responsibility Act (IIRAIRA) of 1996, to date the most significant – and most aggressive – immigration reform bill since 1986.
IIRAIRA was aggressively lobbied by House Republicans under then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), making immigration a key issue ahead of the 1996 midterm elections.
Other spikes in support for reducing immigration accompany important political moments: In June 2001, only 41 percent of respondents wanted to reduce immigration; in October of that year, following the 9/11 terrorist attacks, that number jumped to 58 percent.
Support for decreasing immigration declined globally from this point through 2020, with spikes around major events such as the start of Obama’s presidency and the build-up to Arizona’s SB 1070 immigration crackdown in 2010.
Support for increased immigration, on the contrary, barely registered from the 1960s onwards, before beginning a slow and steady rise in the mid-1990s, reaching a peak during the Trump administration.
Pro-immigration sentiment has steadily declined during the Biden administration as Republicans have managed to push border security and immigration to the center of national politics.
The ups and downs of immigration sentiment were roughly in line with total immigration levels from the 1990s until the major shift in perceptions over the past three and a half years.
The total number of immigrants in the country and the number of immigrants as a percentage of the U.S. population have grown steadily since 1970,according to the Migration Policy Institute.
Until 2021, pro-immigration sentiment had grown consistently on average as the country’s immigrant population increased, while support for reducing immigration had followed a consistent downward trend.
—Updated at 12:17 p.m.
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
