Elections

Poll: 60 Percent Of Americans Don’t Want Donald Trump’s Wall

Trump border Reuters/Rick Wilking

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An extensive new poll from the Pew Research Center shows that almost 60 percent of all registered American voters oppose the construction of a wall running along the length of the border between the United States and Mexico.

Just 38 percent of all voters support such a border wall, according to the Pew poll.

On the Republican side, a solid majority — 67 percent — supports a U.S.-Mexico border wall. On the Democratic side, however, 86 percent of voters oppose a wall.

Supporters of businessman Donald Trump tend to be fervid advocates of a wall separating the United States from Mexico. Support for a building a wall among Trump voters is 84 percent, the poll says.

By a margin of 64 percent to 32 percent, voters on the Republican side who support Sen. [crscore]Ted Cruz[/crscore] also say they favor a wall.

Voters who support Ohio Gov. John Kasich oppose a physical barrier between the countries by a margin of 53 percent to 45 percent.

A 56-percent majority of Republican voters believe that immigrants are a net burden to the United States, according to the Pew poll. Nearly 70 percent of Trump supporters call immigrants a burden. Only 51 percent of Cruz supporters describe immigrants as a burden. And roughly half of Kasich supporters describe immigrants as a net benefit to the nation.

GOP voters also have differences when it comes to dealing with the issue of illegal immigration. A slight majority — 52 percent — of Trump supporters flatly reject any policy which would provide an avenue for illegal immigrants to stay in the United States. Among Cruz supporters, just over 40 percent want to deport all illegal immigrants with no legal recourse. Only about a quarter of Kasich supporters want to oust all illegal aliens.

Overall, just 32 percent of all Republican voters believe the federal government should instigate a national law enforcement effort to deport illegal immigrants, the Pew poll shows.

Among Democratic voters, supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders oppose building a U.S. Mexico wall overwhelmingly. Sanders voters oppose it a bit more — 91 percent to 83 percent.

Democratic voters also strongly support providing an avenue for amnesty for at least some illegal immigrants. By a margin of 78 percent to 17 percent — Democrats believe immigrants provide a net benefit to the United States.

Among the poll’s many other findings: A minority of Republican voters — 38 percent — believe the party would “solidly unite” if Trump becomes the 2016 GOP nominee. A 56-percent majority of GOP voters say they believe many Republican voters would refuse to vote for Trump if he is the party’s 2016 nominee.

Another highlight of the comprehensive Pew poll is that 61 percent of all American voters do not want to subject adherents of Islam to heightened scrutiny based solely on religion. About a third of all Americans want to subject Muslims to additional security measures.

The Pew poll notes that these percentages are unchanged from a poll conducted in December 2015. (The 11 nights of the polling coincided with the multiple terror attacks in Brussels, Belgium on March 22.)

About 60 percent of Republican voters want abortion to be illegal most of the time while roughly three-fourths of Democratic voters want abortion to be legal most of the time, according to the Pew poll.

Trump supporters are most likely to be unsatisfied with their economic situations. About half of Trump voters expressed financial dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, just over 60 percent of Cruz supporters said they are financially happy. Over 70 percent of Kasich voters said they are doing well economically.

On the Democratic side, 65 percent of Clinton supporters and 57 percent of Sanders supporters expressed general economic contentment.

Concerning trade policy, Trump supporters overwhelmingly reject free trade. Just 27 percent of Trump supporters are free-trade advocates while 67 percent oppose free trade. About 48 percent of Cruz supporters oppose free trade. Kasich voters are evenly divided on the issue.

Almost 60 percent of all voters predict that a Trump presidency would turn out poor or terribly, according to the Pew poll.

The Pew poll, conducted over the course of 11 days in March, sampled 2,254 adult voters in all 50 states and the District of Columbia via mobile phones (1,688 respondents) and landlines (566 respondents).

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