CNN Entrance Poll: Immigration Is Top Issue for Republican Iowa Caucus-Goers

Migrants cross the Rio Bravo river, known as Rio Grande in the United States, into the US through Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua State, Mexico, on January 2, 2024. US border police have in recent weeks reported approximately 10,000 crossings by migrants every day, many of them fleeing poverty and violence in …
Herika MARTINEZ/AFP

Republicans arriving at the Iowa Caucus on Monday evening told CNN entrance pollsters that immigration is their top issue heading into the 2024 presidential election.

As Republicans head into the Iowa Caucus, 37 to 40 percent of caucus-goers said their top issue is immigration — indicating that President Joe Biden’s handling of illegal immigration at the United States-Mexico border is the key motivating factor for a plurality of Republican voters today.

Caucus-goers listed the economy, abortion, and foreign policy behind immigration. About 35 percent of caucus-goers called the economy their top issue while 11 percent said abortion and another 11 percent named foreign policy as their number one issue.

This week, Breitbart News Editor-in-Chief Alex Marlow told Fox Business host Larry Kudlow that immigration and the economy remain former President Donald Trump’s “bread and butter” issues:

You must know the president very well because he said specifically the border and the economy [are] the top two things on his mind. He thinks that there’s an effort to have a mass migration into this country. He says other countries are emptying their mental hospitals and insane asylums and sending all their worst people to America. [Emphasis added]

He’s going to go so hard on this issue. It’s going to be incredibly intense, and he’s got all the evidence to suggest that Biden has opened up the [border] I believe in an impeachable way. And next on his list is the economy. Those are the top two things that came up over and over throughout our time together. [Emphasis added]

As Breitbart News has chronicled, Biden’s Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has carried out an expansive and highly effective scheme to increase the nation’s foreign-born population immensely through a massive catch and release network at the border.

mexican border

Migrants take part in a caravan towards the border with the United States in Arriaga community, Chiapas State, Mexico, on January 8, 2024. (STRINGER/AFP)

Currently, Biden’s DHS is releasing into American communities about 85 percent of border crossers and illegal aliens arriving at the border. In practice, since Biden took office, DHS has released more illegal aliens into the U.S. interior, roughly five million, than the number of babies born annually in the country.

The majority of these illegal aliens, released via parole, will end up securing work permits to hold American jobs — a boon for big business, Wall Street, and real estate investors looking to keep wages low by inflating the labor market, add as many residents to the population to drive up housing demands, and increase the supply of consumers to whom they can sell products.

As a result, Biden has driven the country’s foreign-born population to an unprecedented 49.5 million, the largest ever recorded in American history.

The CNN entrance poll was conducted by Edison Research on behalf of the National Election Pool and included more than 550 interviews with GOP Iowa caucus-goers across 45 caucus locations. The margin of error is +/- three percentage points.

John Binder is a reporter for Breitbart News. Email him at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Follow him on Twitter here.

Authored by John Binder via Breitbart January 15th 2024