Establishment Media Admit Public Opposition to Migration

Establishment media outlets are admitting that most Americans oppose President Joe Biden’s more-migration policies.

The admissions follow a February 13 release by Gallup showing rising opposition to legal and illegal migration. But those media admissions are partial, hide the economic damage, ignore the rising opposition shown in many other polls, and come after many years of pro-migration PR from comfortable progressive journalists.

“American turns against immigration,” says a February 15 headline at Axios.

“The US economy needs immigrants. A rising share of both Democrats and Republicans don’t want them,” lamented an incorrect February 14 headline at BusinessInsider.com.

“Americans Are Dissatisfied With Immigrati0n: Poll,” USNews.com reported on February 13.

“American’s Pro-immigration moment wanes,” mourned the Washington Post‘s February 14 headline:

Since 2001, Gallup has regularly tested Americans views on immigration, including whether they are satisfied with current immigration levels. If they were dissatisfied, it asked whether they would like to see increased immigration or decreased immigration.

Over that span, only four times did it show less than 30 percent saying they wanted immigration decreased. All four landed during Trump’s time in office, between 2018 and when Trump departed in 2021. And since Trump left, it’s now back up to 40 percent. That’s the second-highest reading since 2012.

The public’s opposition is rising as more Americans recognize the pocketbook and economic damage caused by the federal government’s 33-year policy of pulling low-wage workers, consumers, and renters from poor countries.

In January, 49 percent of Americans favor a decrease in government-managed legal immigration, while 43 percent favor an increase, according to a FoxNews poll of 1,003 registered voters.

The opposition is widespread. For example, blacks split 45 percent to 45 percent on whether legal immigration should be decreased or increased, according to the Fox poll.

Just 28 percent of registered voters believe immigration has been positive for their local economy, according to an August 12-15 survey of 2,025 registered voters conducted for a pro-migration advocacy group. Only 38 percent say immigration is good for the United States, the poll added.

Thirty-five percent of the respondents in an August 2022 poll by YouGov said immigration makes the United States “worse off. Thirty-one percent said immigration makes the U.S. “Better off,” according to the July 23-26 poll of 1,500 citizens.

The public’s opposition is also muted by its simultaneous desire to help poor migrants. For example, a January 31-Feb. 3 poll in Chicago showed that 56 percent of locals oppose the bussing of migrants into Chicago. A majority of blacks and whites oppose the bussing — and just 51 percent of local Hispanics support the continued inflow. But the poll also showed that 61 percent of the respondents say the city government should provide more help to the migrants.

Some outlets tried hard to downplay the rising opposition shown by Gallup’s poll:

“Fewer Americans Satisfied with levels of immigration in US: Gallup,” said the headline at TheHill.com, a pro-migration outlet.

Forbes.com reported: “Poll: Americans’ Satisfaction With U.S. Immigration At Lowest Point In Decade.”

Gallup also downplayed the shift, with a February 13 headline saying: “Americans Showing Increased Concern About Immigration.”

Public opposition is rising amid the GOP’s zig-zag response to donor pressure, and its reluctance to recognize the pocketbook damage of migration.

House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, for example, recently zig-zagged between the demands for more cheap farmworkers by his farm-district employers, and the GOP voters’ rising opposition to legal and illegal migration.

Eagle Pass, TX – April 25 : House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., disembarks a U.S. Border Patrol air boat as he leads a group of fellow Republicans on a tour of the U.S.-Mexico border on Monday, April 25, 2022 in Eagle Pass, TX. (Photo by Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images)

“The first [thing] has to be done, you have to secure the border before you have any immigration reform,” he told the World Ag Expo on February 14, according to The Fresno Bee:

What’s happened in this administration by opening up our borders has broken down society … America is the most giving when it comes to immigration, more than a million people a year become American citizens, and we want to continue that because that’s how all of us got here.

Rep. John Duarte (R-CA) also zig-zagged between voters and donors, employees and employers, in a conversation with the newspaper:

We need a [low-wage] guest worker program immediately. We need a legal presence for [illegal migrant] people who are already here and who are already productive members of our communities … And our communities need these people to come out of the shadows and lead a mainstream [life]. So these are priorities for me …. [First] we secure the border. That’s the conversation starter. And then I think there is an appetite to get real reform and solve some of these long term problems.

Some GOP legislators, however, emphasize the pocketbook and economic damage of migration:

Americans overwhelmingly dismiss corporate demands for more legal and illegal immigrant workers, even at the threatened cost of higher inflation. By a factor of more than two to one, Americans agree companies “should raise wages and try harder to recruit Americans even if it causes the prices of their products to rise,” said a July 20-22 poll by YouGov.com.

Just 26 percent of people “strongly” endorse the 1950s “Nation of Immigrants” narrative, down from 40 percent in 2018, said an August 2022 poll by Ipsos.

A majority of Americans say Biden is allowing a southern border invasion, according to a July 2022 poll commissioned by the left-of-center, taxpayer-supported National Public Radio (NPR). The 54 percent “Invasion” majority includes 76 percent of Republicans, 46 percent of independents, and even 40 percent of Democrats. Just 19 percent of all respondents — or one in five — said the term is false.