Immigration Attitudes

Americans and Western Europeans have broadly similar views on certain social and political issues. For example, majorities of Americans and Western Europeans see immigrants as beneficial to their economies and support certain rights for gays and lesbians.

About eight-in-ten Twitter users who tweeted about immigration with a link in the first month of the Trump presidency shared at least one tweet that had a link to a news site.

While there has been considerable attention on illegal immigration into the U.S. recently, opinions about legal immigration have undergone a long-term change.

The differences over immigration policy between Germany’s Christian Democratic Union and Christian Social Union are also evident among backers of the parties.

Nationalist and anti-immigrant attitudes in Western Europe have been an issue in a number of recent national elections around the region. But Western Europeans vary by country when it comes to having positive or negative views about immigrants and religious minorities.

Nearly three-quarters of Americans favor granting permanent legal status to immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally when they were children.

As the U.S. is on track to admit its smallest number of refugees in decades, opinions about whether the U.S. has a responsibility to accept refugees have become more polarized.

When the two policies are taken together, 54% of Americans both favor legal status for immigrants who came to the U.S. illegally as children and oppose expanding the border wall.

Between 2010 and 2016, the number of Muslims living in Germany rose from 3.3 million (4.1% of the population) to nearly 5 million (6.1%), while the rest of the population shrank modestly from 77.1 million to 76.5 million.

The U.S. has more foreign students enrolled in its colleges and universities than any other country in the world. Explore data about foreign students in the U.S. higher education system.