Where Do American Voters Stand On Immigration Policies?

Given the historic influx of migrants in recent years, immigration stands as a central issue in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

For decades, U.S. presidents have proposed broad immigration reform, but each has failed to receive support in Congress. In fact, the last comprehensive immigration bill was passed four decades ago under President Reagan. Comprehensive immigration reform addresses border security, the status of undocumented immigrants, enforcement, and labor demand.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows how Americans view immigration policies in 2024, based on surveys from the Pew Research Center.

Harris and Trump Supporters are Mostly Divided on Immigration

Below, we show the share of registered U.S. voters that are strongly in favor or somewhat in favor of each immigration policy, based on a survey conducted August 5-11, 2024:

Currently, 88% of Trump supporters agree with mass deportations of unauthorized immigrants compared to just 27% of Harris supporters.

While Trump has vowed to make mass deportations a part of his platform, it could face legal challenges. Among the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in America, nearly 80% have resided in the country for more than 10 years.

Going further, undocumented immigrants have a right to due process, adding further pressure on the backlogged immigration court system.

When it comes to admitting immigrants to address labor shortages, roughly one in two Republicans agree with this policy compared to 89% of Democrats. In 2023, the immigrant population comprised 18.6% of the U.S. labor force, with the highest share in services, transportation, and construction and natural resources industries.

Both parties, however, find common ground on enhancing border security and admitting more high-skilled immigrants. In fact, 88% of all voters support enhancing border security, while 79% of all voters support admitting high-skilled immigrants.

To learn more about this topic from a historical perspective, check out this graphic on net immigration by president over the last three decades.