A December 8 Associated Press/GfK poll of 1,007 American adults has raised several questions about terrorism and immigration—including whether Americans think the level of immigration from the Middle East and Latin American is too high.
One question from the poll —which ran online from December 3 (the day after the San Bernardino attacks) to December 7 (the same day Republican candidate Donald Trump called for a ban on Muslims from entering the country)— asked the following question:
Do you think the United States currently allows too many or too few immigrants to enter the country from each of the following places, or is the current level of legal immigration about right?
Here is how the respondents answered:
The Middle East topped the “too many” column at 54%, with Latin America right behind at 46%. Earlier this year, a different Pew Research poll asked a somewhat similar question. In that poll, the impact immigrants from the Middle East and Latin America had the most negative responses.
In addition, an August Gallup poll on immigration levels stated the following:
“The U.S. public demonstrates no clear preference on what U.S. immigration levels should be. On this contentious issue, 40% say levels should remain where they are, but only slightly fewer (34%) advocate a decrease in the stream of immigrants. One-quarter of the country prefers an increase in immigration levels, the sole response of the three to see a general increase in support over the past 15 years.”
Taking the new AP/GfK findings into account, it does appear that immigration levels might be trending back towards the time after September 11, 2001, when Gallup reported that a push for less immigration peaked at 58%.
Another question from the AP/GfK poll asked Americans about President Barack Obama and how he has handled the immigration issue:
Overall, do you approve, disapprove, or neither approve nor disapprove of the way Barack Obama is handling immigration.
According to the poll, 38% of respondents approved of Obama’s performance, while 60% disapproved.
When it comes to which political party is doing a better job on immigration, 29% said the Democrats, 27% said the Republicans, 11% said “both equally,” with 31% saying “neither.”
The following document lists all the topline results of the poll, including questions about terrorism and how the country should handle ISIS.
AP GfK Poll December 2015 Mideast/Immigration by Latino USA
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