Immigration Attitudes

A majority of all Hispanic adults identify as Catholic and a large majority of Hispanic Catholics speak Spanish fluently. Eight-in-ten Hispanic Catholics use mostly Spanish or are bilingual. In fact, they are more likely to be Spanish speakers than non-Catholic Hispanics (68%).

There is little support overall for an effort to deport all those in the U.S. illegally, but past surveys have found support for building a barrier along the Mexican border and for banning birthright citizenship.

Many Europeans, especially in the continent's south, hold negative views of immigrants and are concerned about new arrivals from outside the EU.

Immigration continues to loom as a major issue in 2015, following President Obama's executive actions last year expanding the number of undocumented immigrants permitted to work and stay in the U.S. A roundup of facts about unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. and public opinion.

Democrats maintain a wide, but diminished, advantage among Hispanic registered voters, 54% of whom say a candidate's position on immigration is not a deal-breaker in determining their vote.

About as many Hispanics support the current system for deciding immigration cases as do those expediting the process (49% - 47%), which would have the effect of speeding up deportations.

Survey Report As the president and Congress struggle over how to deal with the influx of thousands of unaccompanied minors from Central America across the U.S.-Mexican border, a new survey finds that the public favors a shift in U.S. policy to expedite the legal processing of the children. President Obama gets very low ratings for […]

Only a minority of Republican voters take a hard-line stance on immigration.