Poll on immigration clashes with political narratives as 2024 campaign rhetoric heats up

A poll by Florida Atlantic University and Mainstreet Research found some surprising viewpoints on the hot topic of immigration and border security in America.

Namely, a majority of respondents in the poll released in February revealed they liked the immigrant living next door, but were split on foreigners' contributions to "American culture." And while states like Florida and Texas are taking border enforcement measures into their own hands, the survey showed a citizenry not "trusting" state officials to act on immigration, and somewhat leery about federal authorities, too.

The results reveal more complex views at a time when immigration is surging as, arguably, the dominant topic of the 2024 presidential election. Last week, U.S. officials updated their tally of the number of unauthorized people who have entered the country under the Biden administration to 7.3 million, a figure greater than many U.S. states.

The announcement predated visits to the southern border last week by both President Joe Biden, who has sought to shore up his poor approval rating on the issue, and GOP rival and former President Donald Trump, who has vowed to launch the "largest" deportation effort in the country's history.

Immigration is a particularly relevant issue in Florida since South Florida communities are often made up of large communities of people from Cuba, Haiti, Venezuela and Colombia.

Florida senators on immigration: Rubio, Scott oppose immigration bill as Trump lords over legislation

Here are five key takeaways from the FAU-Mainstreet poll conducted in early February via text message and an online panel survey of 1,180 nationwide adults registered to vote.

1. Trust in state government and immigration courts is nearly an even split

In Texas, state officials have spent $148 million in transporting more than 102,000 migrants all over the United States. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has interjected himself into the immigration issue, and national headlines, as well for transporting immigrants to Martha's Vineyard as well as sending state guardsmen to the border. He has even been to the border to decry Biden's policies.

Yet, those surveyed by FAU-Mainstreet didn't seem too impressed by states taking action.

About 32% of voters said they "somewhat" trusted state government to deal with immigration and about 29% somewhat distrusted state government's efforts on the topic. Moreover, 20% strongly distrusted state government as opposed to 11% holding strong trust.

The national network of immigration courts also did not fare too well. Some 50% said they either strongly or somewhat distrust the court system that rules on asylum and residency matters. Just 35% either somewhat or strongly trust their rulings.

The court system got a mixed review from Hispanic respondents with 40.5% trusting it and 36.2% not.

Greater divides exist for trusting border patrol and ICE

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, known as ICE, and border control authorities also received a mixed reaction. In terms of the view of border patrol authorities, about 49% of respondents said they somewhat or strongly trusted the agency while 40% either somewhat or strongly distrusted the agency.

Of the group that somewhat trusts border patrol, about 51.9% are Hispanic, 26.7% are Black and 35.7% are white. Those with strong distrust are mostly Black at 24.3%, other ethnicities at 20.3%, and Hispanic at 15.7%.

The poll also showed about 31% of voters somewhat trusting ICE, and about 25% said they somewhat distrust the agency. The gap is also very wide for those who have strong trust and distrust, with 11% and 21% respectively.

In this group, Hispanic respondents had 49.1% "somewhat trusting" of ICE and 21.1% "somewhat distrusting" of ICE.

Most voters would like to have an immigrant as a neighbor

About 64% of voters polled said they'd like to have an immigrant as a neighbor, with 36% saying they wouldn't.

Most of the people who said yes were Hispanic, with 82% making up this group. The group that chose "no" included 38.4% of white respondents and 32.7% of Black respondents.

Voters have slightly more favorability on immigration strengthening American culture

About 29% of voters said they believe immigration somewhat strengthens American culture, whereas about 21% said they believe it slightly weakens it. About 16% said immigration greatly strengthens American culture, which is less than the 21% who said it greatly weakens it.

Of those who believe American culture is weakened by immigration, 25.7% identified as white, 14.4% identified as Black and 9.4% identified as Hispanic. Those who said it greatly strengthened the country's cultural fabric were 28.8% Hispanic, 21.4% Black and 12.2% white.

There's also some difference in age groups. Those ages 18 to 34 years old were the largest group at 22.4% in saying that immigration greatly strengthened American culture. Those 65 years old and above were the smallest group with this belief at 10.4%.

Most voters believe becoming a permanent resident takes just enough time, or maybe too long

To get permanent resident status, it can take a few months to a few years. About 26% of voters said this time was about right, but 15% said it was much too long and 9% said it was too short.

About 23% said it was somewhat too long to become a permanent resident; about 33% of this group was 19 to 34 years old. About 48.1% of those who said it was somewhat too long are Hispanic, 21.7% are Black and 21.5% are white.

Stephany Matat is a politics reporter for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY-Florida network. Reach her at smatat@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: FAU poll on immigration, border clash with 2024 election narratives