Immigration

Draft report prepared by Frank Newport, Resty Fufunan, Josearmando Torres, and Tiffany S. Neman.

First drafted: May 2025. Last updated: March 2026.

Polling data cited in this report were drawn from multiple sources. Where applicable, survey data were accessed through Roper iPoll, provided by the Roper Center for Public Opinion Research at Cornell University. Additional data were obtained from publicly available sources.

This Public Pulse report reviews and synthesizes current American public opinion on immigration policy. The report draws on high-quality national survey data and integrates findings across multiple polling organizations, question formats, and time points. The objective is to provide a structured assessment of where the American public stands on this important issue.

As with most policy issues, public opinion on immigration cannot be adequately captured by single poll questions. The public’s attitudes are complex and often sensitive to question wording and context. Accordingly, the most valuable understanding of public opinion results from comparative analysis across surveys and across alternative ways of asking about similar topics. This Public Pulse report adopts that approach. The main focus of the report is on current public opinion,  supplemented by trend data to provide historical context.

The sections that follow include an Executive Summary of major findings, a discussion of research needs and evidence gaps, and detailed summaries of survey results across 11 immigration policy subtopics. (For additional information on the rationale and methodology underlying the Public Pulse series, see Rationale for the Public Pulse.)