US election: why immigration remains a major issue for voters and why they trust Trump on border security
Eli Auslender, Research Fellow in Migration and Climate Change, Aberystwyth University
Wed 25 September 2024 at 10:26 am GMT-4·5-min read
US border policy remains a key electoral issue for Democrats and presidential nominee Kamala Harris as she approaches the November election.
According to a recent Gallup poll, 77% of Americans believe the southern border is experiencing either an ongoing crisis or is a major problem. Meanwhile 55% wish to see less overall immigration, 53% support expansion of the border wall and 63% would support the president temporarily closing the border to asylum seekers when the border is “overwhelmed”.
The issue is an important one in border states, especially in those such as Arizona, where polls show an incredibly tight race. Those who rate immigration as a top issue favour Donald Trump over Harris, and in one new poll voters say that Trump will be far more successful than Harris at securing the border.
Joe Biden’s initial border policies continued some entry restrictions brought in by Trump’s administration, which had restricted border entry during the heights of the pandemic. But Biden also opened new pathways for legal migration. This included expanding temporary protected status, which expedites work permits for specific populations fleeing violence or disasters from countries such as Haiti or Ukraine.
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/us-election-why-immigration-remains-142626167.html
