Almost half of Latino adults support the mass deportation of illegal immigrants - more than both Blacks and Democrats, a new Harris Poll survey conducted exclusively for Axios reveals.
According to the national survey of 6,251 U.S. adults, conducted March through April, a 51% majority say they support mass deportations of “undocumented” (aka, illegal) immigrants.
But, a closer look yields some surprising results.
Nearly half (45%) of Latinos say they support mass deportation of illegal aliens, more than the 40% support of Black respondents. Among Whites, 56% say they’re in favor.
What’s more, 42% of Democrats support a sweeping purge of illegal aliens, slightly less than Independents (46%), but well below the two-thirds (68%) approval by Whites.
“Amid a record number of border crossings, nearly two-thirds of Americans said illegal immigration is a real crisis, not a politically driven media narrative,” Axios notes.
The greatest concerns about illegal immigration voiced by respondents are increased crime rates, drugs, and violence (21%), additional costs to taxpayers (18%), and risk of terrorism and national security (17%).
Two-thirds (68%) said illegal immigration causes major problems in communities, but only one in four (27%) said they felt that way about legal immigration.
In its exclusive article reporting the survey results, Axios fails to provide the actual questions asked, preventing any scrutiny of potential bias in the phraseology.
Axios does, however, make a point of both defending illegal immigration and repeatedly invoking the specter of former president and presumptive 2024 Republican nominee Donald Trump, associating him with the concept of mass deportations of those who’ve broken into the country.
Nonetheless, Pres. Joe Biden's efforts to blame former President Trump for the current border crisis heading into November's election aren't going to work, Harris Poll Chairman Mark Penn, a former pollster for President Clinton, warned Axios.