Poll: Immigration Bigger Issue than Inflation, Economy

President Joe Biden’s easy-migration policies are the top issue facing the United States, according to the latest Harvard Harris poll.

Immigration — not inflation or the economy — was cited as the top issue among 36 percent of 2,111 registered voters in the March 20-21 poll from Harvard’s Center for American Political Studies.

Thirty-six percent tagged immigration as the top issue, while 33 percent tagged inflation. Twenty-three percent picked the “economy and jobs” category.

Demographically, 39 percent of whites, 41 percent of Hispanics, 28 percent of Asians, and 28 percent of people aged 25 to 34 chose immigration.

Harvard Caps Harris Poll

Twenty-one percent of respondents said immigration is the top issue facing them personally, up four points from the prior monthly poll.

The poll matches the results from Cygnal polling, which surveyed 1,500 likely voters in 39 battleground districts from March 5-7, 2024:

Border security is now firmly the top issue (30%), up 11 percent since January and surpassing inflation which fell to 23 percent overall. Hispanic voters are driving this change with a 13 percent increase among these voters toward border security and away from other issues. Independents continue to care more about inflation, while Republicans are focused on border security, and Democrats are still expressing concerns over threats to democracy.

However, the issues of inflation and immigration are closely tied. For example, Biden’s immigration policy has imported at least seven million extra migrants, inflating costs for housing, autos, food, and other necessary items.

Fifty-eight percent of the 2,111 registered voters in the Harvard Harris poll also said Biden’s border is “getting worse,” and 73 percent want Biden’s deputies to toughen enforcement.

Harvard Caps Harris Poll

Many polls show migration is playing a central role in the 2024 election the establishment media’s efforts to downplay the pocketbook impact on Americans and the structural damage to the U.S. economy.

The Harvard Harris poll showed that 46 percent of respondents said immigration is Biden’s “biggest failure.” That score was almost double the 27 percent who picked “Weak leadership at home and abroad.”

Even the New York Times writers admit that Biden’s policies are bad for Democrats. “If Biden loses in November, this will be a major reason,” op-ed writer Bret Stephens admitted in a March 25 column:

Most Americans also understand that Biden and Kamala Harris pretty much ignored the crisis for years until Abbott and other Southern governors started sending migrants to places like Chicago and New York, and Democratic officials began to see the problem at their doorstep.

However, Republicans may yet drop the ball by treating migration only as an easy turnout issue for the base, not as an opportunity to persuade and attract conflicted swing voters.

In general, GOP donors do not want the GOP to use the immigration issue as a way to win new voters or election landslides. That strategy would require campaign promises to curb the inflow of foreign workers, consumers, and renters that donors demand.

The easy-migration policies are exacerbating Americans’ expanding problems — homelessness, low wages, a shrinking middle class, slowing innovation, declining blue-collar life expectancy, spreading poverty, the rising death toll from drugs, and the spreading alienation among young people.

Worse, the inflow of migrants reduces the incentive and ability of politicians, government officials, and business leaders to overcome their expanding political differences in ways that help reduce Americans’ problems.