Gallup: Immigration Surges to the Top of Americans’ Concerns
Three polls the president and Congress ignore at their peril
By Andrew R. Arthur on March 7, 2024
With Super Tuesday ended and the 2024 presidential electoral matchup pitting former President Donald Trump against current President Joe Biden set (for now), immigration is now Americans’ leading concern according to a poll released last week by Gallup. That survey is no outlier, and the question now is whether the incumbent and Congress can address voters’ angst over the crisis at the Southwest border in the next eight months. If they can’t, they may be looking for new jobs come January.
Gallup. The results of that poll were released on February 27, with 28 percent of respondents identifying “immigration” as “the most important problem facing this country today”. That puts the issue in first place out of 15 topics polled, solidly beating out “government” (20 percent), the “economy in general” (12 percent), “inflation” (11 percent), and “crime” (3 percent).
Even if you combine the economy and inflation — closely intertwined issues — immigration is still a bigger concern. That is nothing short of tectonic, especially since just one month earlier, immigration was just the second biggest issue for Americans, at 20 percent, trailing the economy by one point.
It’s not entirely clear why Americans are suddenly focused on immigration, given that the Southwest border is in no better or worse shape than two years ago, but migrant crises in northern cities, the Senate’s failure to pass a border bill, and recent high-profile crimes committed by migrants have likely played a major role.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Gallup-Immigration-Surges-Top-Americans-Concerns
