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Americans' support for decreasing immigration holds steady: Gallup

Xinhua, August 25, 2016 Adjust font size:

Despite Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's emphasis on the harmful effects of immigration, there has been no surge in the percentage of Americans wanting to see immigration levels decreased, Gallup found in a poll Wednesday.

Thirty-eight percent of U.S. adults say the level of immigration should be decreased, similar to recent years, while an equal percentage saying immigration should be kept at its present level. The relatively small percentage of Americans who want immigration increased, however, has edged down this year to 21 percent, Gallup found.

Despite the strong rhetoric on immigration emanating from the Trump campaign, there has been no uptick in the past year of those wanting to see immigration decreased, suggesting that Trump is not so much changing public opinion, Gallup found.

The poll comes as immigration is one of the main focal points of the 2016 race for the White House, with Trump saying he wants to build a wall to keep out illegal migrants from the southern border and saying he wants to deport the millions of illegals already in the United States.

Trump has also proposed restricting legal immigration among those who come from certain regions of the world with a history of exporting terrorism, who don't pass an ideology test or who identify with the Muslim faith, Gallup noted.

Since 2012, Americans generally have remained split between maintaining the current level of immigration and decreasing immigration, with less interest in increasing immigration. By contrast, before 2012 -- and particularly in the years immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington -- Americans tended to be more in favor of decreased immigration, Gallup found.

Republicans and conservatives are most likely to want immigration decreased, while Democrats and liberals are least likely to want it decreased, Gallup found.

A separate question in the poll confirms that most Americans, at 72 percent, believe that immigration is a "good thing for this country today." Endi