Published: Feb. 23, 2016

What Republican voters really think about immigration

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Donald Trump spoke during a campaign rally in Atlanta. Photo credit: Boston Globe

Republican voters were asked if they thought undocumented immigrants should be offered a chance to apply for legal status or if they should be deported. Fifty-six percent of New Hampshire Republican voters and 53 percent of South Carolina Republican voters said they should be offered a chance to stay with legal status, reported NBC News.

However, among Donald Trump supporters, deportation was by far the preferred choice.

Trump’s tendency to merge immigration issues and national security issues may have something to do with this outcome as well as the way polling questions are asked.

Trump’s views misalign with typical American views on immigration

According to Gallup, as of last summer, 25 percent of Americans felt the United States should accept more immigrants, with another 40 percent supporting the current approach.

Among Donald Trump supporters, however, 81 percent said they believe immigration hurts the U.S. more than it helps, reported the Boston Globe.

However, in a survey conducted by the World Values Survey, 66 percent of Americans said they trust people of another nationality, 31 percentage points higher than the global average.

Latino voters mobilize against Trump

With Hispanic immigrants making up one in five eligible voters in the United States, anti-Trump sentiment is fueling the Hispanic community to register to vote and even pushing to become U.S. citizens before the general election in the fall, reported Fox News Latino.

“They’ve used Trump’s rhetoric as a tool to mobilize Latinos who could be citizens, but are not, to get them naturalized so they can turn out to vote,” said David Damore, assistant professor of political science at University of Nevada.

In Nevada alone, the Culinary Workers Union plans to move 25,000 Latinos through the naturalization process by June 1, 2015 and register 12,000 more to vote.