{"id":12839,"date":"2016-08-25T14:46:10","date_gmt":"2016-08-25T19:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/%year%\/%monthnum%\/%day%\/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration\/"},"modified":"2024-04-14T03:18:21","modified_gmt":"2024-04-14T08:18:21","slug":"5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration","status":"publish","type":"short-read","link":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/08\/25\/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"5 facts about Trump supporters\u2019 views of immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

\"(Photo<\/a>
(Photo by Angelo Merendino\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/figure>\n\n

Immigration policy has been a focal point of Donald Trump\u2019s campaign since he announced he was running for president 14 months ago. Today, amid signs he may be preparing to modify some of his hard-line positions<\/a> on illegal immigration, here is a review of where Trump supporters stand on the issue:<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

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Most Trump supporters view immigration as a \u201cvery big problem\u201d in the U.S.<\/strong> In a survey released last week<\/a>, 66% of registered voters who support Trump in the general election call immigration a \u201cvery big problem\u201d in the country. Just 17% of Hillary Clinton backers say the same. Terrorism is the only other issue, among seven included, that is viewed by about as many Trump supporters as a major problem (65%).<\/p>\n\n

Trump’s proposed\u00a0border\u00a0wall gets overwhelming support from his\u00a0backers. <\/strong>Perhaps no Trump proposal has resonated more strongly with his supporters than his plan to build a wall along the U.S. border with Mexico. Fully 79% of Trump supporters favor building a wall along the entire U.S.-Mexico border; just 18% are opposed. Among Clinton supporters, 88% oppose a border wall, compared with 10% who favor it.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

Trump supporters have mixed views of undocumented immigrants. <\/strong>Just 35% of Trump supporters say undocumented immigrants take jobs U.S. citizens would like to have, and a third say that they are less hard-working and honest than citizens. However, a greater share of Trump supporters (50%) think undocumented immigrants in the U.S. \u201care more likely than American citizens to commit serious crimes\u201d; 43% say they are not. And among voters who support Trump strongly, 59% associate unauthorized immigrants with serious criminal behavior. Fewer (42%) of those who support him less strongly say the same.<\/p>\n\n

Pro-Clinton voters are far less likely than Trump supporters to express negative views of unauthorized immigrants, and there are only slight differences based on strength of support.<\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n\n

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During the Republican primaries, most Trump supporters did not favor a national effort to deport all those in the U.S. illegally.\u00a0<\/strong>In March<\/a>, Republican and Republican-leaning registered voters who backed Trump for the GOP nomination were split over whether undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country legally: 52% were opposed to unauthorized immigrants staying in the U.S. legally, while 47% said they should be allowed to stay if they met certain requirements.<\/p>\n\n

At the same time, Trump supporters were less supportive of a path to legal status than were GOP voters who supported other candidates \u2013 and far less supportive than Democrats who supported either Clinton or Bernie Sanders for their party\u2019s nomination.<\/p>\n\n

Most Trump supporters who opposed a path to legal status for those in the U.S. illegally supported a national law enforcement effort to deport all unauthorized immigrants. But that constituted fewer than half (42%) of GOP voters who supported Trump for the nomination.<\/p>\n\n

Today, voters who back a Trump presidency are divided on priorities for U.S. immigration policy.\u00a0<\/strong>Nearly half (48%) of Trump supporters say the priority for policy to deal with illegal immigration should be stronger law enforcement and better border security. Just 10% say the priority should be creating a way for undocumented immigrants to become citizens if they meet certain requirements. But about four-in-ten (41%) say both of these approaches should be given equal priority.<\/p>\n\n

When Trump voters who give equal priority to both are asked to choose just one, a majority overall comes down on the side of stronger law enforcement and better border security: 78% say this should be the priority, compared with just 19% who prioritize a path to citizenship for those in the U.S. illegally. Among Clinton supporters, opinions are nearly reversed: 80% say a path to citizenship should be the priority, while 19% prioritize tougher law enforcement and better border security.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Immigration policy has been a focal point of Donald Trump\u2019s campaign since he first announced he was running for president. Here’s a look at where his supporters stand on the issue.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":87,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"sub_headline":"","sub_title":"","_crdt_document":"","_prc_public_revisions":[],"_ppp_expiration_hours":0,"_ppp_enabled":false,"ai_generated_summary":"","apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"relatedPosts":[],"_prc_fork_parent":0,"_prc_fork_status":"","_prc_active_fork":0,"datacite_doi":"","datacite_doi_citation":"","_prc_seo_qr_attachment_id":0,"spoken_article_player_enabled":true,"displayBylines":true,"footnotes":"","prc_watchers":[]},"categories":[68,129,93,88,25,379],"bylines":[989],"collection":[],"datasets":[],"_post_visibility":[],"formats":[467],"_fund_pool":[],"languages":[],"regions-countries":[514,513],"research-teams":[520],"workflow-status":[],"class_list":["post-12839","short-read","type-short-read","status-publish","hentry","category-donald-trump","category-immigration-attitudes","category-issue-priorities","category-leaders","category-politics-policy","category-unauthorized-immigration","bylines-carroll-doherty","formats-short-read","regions-countries-international","regions-countries-latin-america","research-teams-politics"],"label":"Short Read","post_parent":0,"word_count":619,"canonical_url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/short-reads\/2016\/08\/25\/5-facts-about-trump-supporters-views-of-immigration\/","art_direction":{"A1":{"id":23968,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp?w=564&h=317&crop=1","width":564,"height":317,"chartArt":false},"A2":{"id":23968,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"A3":{"id":23968,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp?w=194&h=110&crop=1","width":194,"height":110,"chartArt":false},"A4":{"id":23968,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp?w=268&h=151&crop=1","width":268,"height":151,"chartArt":false},"XL":{"id":23968,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp?w=640&h=340&crop=1","width":640,"height":340,"chartArt":false},"social":{"id":23968,"rawUrl":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp","url":"https:\/\/alpha.pewresearch.org\/pewresearch-org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/20\/2016\/08\/FT_16.08.25_TrumpImmigration-jpeg.webp?w=640&h=340&crop=1","width":640,"height":340,"chartArt":false}},"_embeds":[],"watchers":[],"table_of_contents":[],"datacite_doi":"","prc_seo_data":{"title":"5 facts about Trump supporters\u2019 views of immigration","description":"Immigration policy has been a focal point of Trump\u2019s campaign since he announced he was running for president. 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