A newly-released survey shows a dramatic increase in the percentage of Democrats who believe the situation at the U.S.-Mexico border constitutes a “crisis.”
Thirty-five percent of self-identified Democrats said that they believed the situation to be a crisis, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll conducted between April 22 and 25. The number is a more than three-fold rise from the last time the question was asked in January, when only seven percent of Democrats agreed that it was a crisis.
Concern for the border increased across all partisan demographics in the past three months.
Forty-nine percent of Republicans polled in January believed there was a border crisis. That number jumped to 56 percent in April. Independents also rose from 21 to 30 percent, and more adults overall agreed that there was a crisis at the U.S. southern border.
The survey also asked who was to blame for the immigration situation: President Donald Trump or Congressional Democrats? A slightly higher number of respondents chose Democrats, with a breakdown of 35 percent to 32 percent, but the result was largely split along partisan lines.
The Washington Post-ABC News survey contacted 1,001 adults via cellphone and landline telephones, and has a margin-of-error of 3.5 percentage points.
Americans’ changing views on immigration could become a problem for Democrats in the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. More Democrats have now relented that a “humanitarian crisis” is taking place, after previously accusing Trump of “manufacturing” a crisis at the southern border. Some prominent Democrats have even expressed optimism at an immigration deal with the GOP.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 30: U.S. President Donald J. Trump smiles during the State of the Union address in the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives January 30, 2018 in Washington, DC. This is the first State of the Union address given by U.S. President Donald Trump and his second joint-session address to Congress. (Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Democratic presidential candidates, however, have maintained that the president’s immigration policies are not working.
“If the Democrats don’t give us the votes to change our weak, ineffective and dangerous Immigration Laws, we must fight hard for these votes in the 2020 Election!” Trump tweeted on Monday, his latest shot against Democrats and their opposition to his immigration agenda. (RELATED: Kyrsten Sinema Bucks Party, Calls On Lawmakers To Better Secure The Border)
The president has implemented, or is trying to implement, a number of initiatives to stem the immigration crisis. Such measures include more border wall funding, deportation and asylum reform, changes to the visa system, more troops at the border, along with other requests. The president has even expressed interest in alleviating overcrowded detention centers by dumping illegal migrants in sanctuary cities.
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