Biden halting border wall construction costing taxpayers millions
FOX News National Correspondent William La Jeunesse has the details from the southern border on 'The Story'
The latest Fox News survey finds support for building the U.S.-Mexico border wall is up -- and now matches a previous high. This comes after the Biden administration halted the majority of border wall projects in late April.
While voters have mixed views on the wall, the 50 percent who favor it today matches the record set in 2015 -- and the 46 percent opposed is a new low. That marks a reversal from December 2019, when 44 percent favored it and 52 percent were opposed.
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The shift comes mostly from women (+8), Whites, (+7), Republicans (+6), Democrats (+5), and Blacks (+5) being more likely to favor it now compared to 2019.
The poll, released Thursday, also shows that while more voters think immigrants help the country and make it a better place to live (48 percent), a large minority says they hurt the country and make it worse (39 percent).
The number saying immigrants hurt the country has risen 15 percentage points since 2019 when 24 percent felt that way.
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Increases in the portion saying "hurt" are seen across the board: independents (+21), Republicans (+20), Whites (+18), men (+16), women (+14), Blacks (+11), and Democrats (+8) are more likely to think immigrants hurt rather than help.
White voters are also more likely to think immigrants are more harmful (45 percent) than helpful (41 percent). In 2019, 27 percent said immigrants hurt and 44 percent said help.
Views among Hispanic voters have moved the other way. The share who think immigrants help increased by 14 points (70 percent vs. 56 percent in 2019).
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Child Migrants
The survey also asks what should happen to the children who arrive at the U.S.-Mexico border without a parent or guardian.
A majority, 58 percent, says allow them to enter the country, either to be cared for by religious or charitable organizations (40 percent) or housed in government facilities until relatives can be found (18 percent).
Thirty-eight percent think they should be turned away and returned to their home country.
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Democrats are more likely to want them to be able to stay (77 percent), while a majority of Republicans wants them returned to their home country (60 percent).
President Biden & the Issues
President Biden is in negative territory when it comes to handling immigration (38 percent approve vs. 57 percent disapprove) and border security (40-56).
"Given the recent surge in illegal crossings, and the particular uptick in unaccompanied minors at the border, it is unsurprising that Biden receives his worst marks on these issues," says Republican pollster Daron Shaw, who conducts the Fox News poll with Democrat Chris Anderson.
Biden receives better ratings on all other issues tested: coronavirus (64 percent approve-34 percent disapprove), the environment (54-41), health care (53-41), the economy (51-46), race relations (51-45), and foreign policy (43-52).
Fewer voters consider illegal immigration a threat to the stability of the U.S. (55 percent a major threat) compared to other top issues such as political divisions (64 percent) and unemployment (61 percent).
Illegal immigration comes in around the same level as decaying infrastructure (59 percent a major threat), racism (58 percent), gun violence (57 percent), big government (56 percent), how we educate children (56 percent), coronavirus (55 percent) -- and a bit ahead of climate change (51 percent), illegal voting (51 percent), socialism (49 percent) and voting laws (48 percent).
Border security/immigration is a top issue for voters (13 percent), behind the economy (23 percent) and coronavirus (19 percent) and ahead of race relations (10 percent).
Conducted May 22-25, 2021 under the joint direction of Beacon Research (D) and Shaw & Company (R), this Fox News Poll includes interviews with 1,003 randomly chosen registered voters nationwide who spoke with live interviewers on both landlines and cellphones. The total sample has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points.
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