A greater share of voters who identify as supporters of President Trump see newcomers to the United States as a good thing that benefits the country than the number who did ahead of the 2016 election, according to a poll released Thursday afternoon.
Just 19% of registered voters who supported Trump in 2016 said recently arrived immigrants benefit the U.S., compared to 32% of his base who now say so, according to polls conducted by the Pew Research Center in 2016 and again this year from July 27 to Aug. 2. Sixty-five percent of Trump supporters said immigrants pose a threat to America’s customs and values — down from 79% who thought so during his previous presidential campaign.
Those figures are in sharp contrast with supporters of Democratic candidates, who have had increasingly favorable views of immigrants since Hillary Clinton was the party’s nominee in 2016. Four years ago, 71% of Clinton supporters held a positive view of immigrants. That number has jumped to 84% among Joe Biden’s supporters, while the percentage of people who see newcomers as a threat declined from 24% to 14%.
Across all registered voters, positive views of immigrants increased during Trump’s first term from 46% to 60%, while the share who see newcomers as a negative dropped from 50% to 37%.
During his 2016 candidacy and time in office, Trump has made inflammatory remarks about immigrants.
In January 2018, Trump lamented to aides at the White House about temporary protective status for citizens of El Salvador, Haiti, and African countries, which he said were “shithole countries,” and said people from places such as Norway should instead be admitted.
Trump’s 2016 campaign commenced with a June 2015 announcement in which he said there were Mexicans and other Latin Americans crossing the border who “have lots of problems, and they’re bringing those problems with us, they’re bringing drugs, they’re bringing crime, they’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.”
The online poll was conducted among 9,114 registered voters and had a margin of error of plus or minus 1.5 percentage points for the collective group. It had a 2.4-point margin of error among voters who support Trump and a 2-point margin of error among Biden supporters.
