Birthright Citizenship

Last updated: February 2026

Key Point Summary

A clear majority of Americans support birthright citizenship, the constitutional provision outlined in the 14th Amendment granting citizenship for anyone born in the United States.

  • Across multiple surveys fielded in 2025, all found majority support for maintaining birthright citizenship.
  • Opinion has been stable over time, with little evidence of change from early to mid-2025.

Bottom line: Public opinion on birthright citizenship is stable and straightforward. A majority opposes changing the 14th Amendment birthright provision, and attitudes have remained consistent across time and question formats. Public sentiment on birthright citizenship appears unlikely to shift meaningfully without major contextual or political disruptions.

Availability of Data and Confidence in Conclusions

This assessment is based on 22 questions from 16 nationally representative surveys conducted between 2025 and 2026, with a total sample size of 30,824. The evidence base is solid. Consistency appears moderate: the surveys use a range of question formats, from questions with two response options (e.g., Yes/No) to context-specific items referencing political figures or constitutional language. The findings are generally aligned across sources, but the variation in question format means the evidence is not as cleanly uniform as in the strongest sections. The data are substantial and useful, though some caution is warranted in translating them into a single precise summary. By comparison, our 2022-2024 polling data on birthright citizenship consists of 3 questions from 2 nationally representative surveys, with a total sample size of 6,445.

 Overall Confidence: GOOD.

Policy Implications

Policymakers considering proposals to alter or reinterpret the constitutional right to birthright citizenship face majority opposition from the American public. Although a substantial minority supports change, current data suggest that any such proposal would fail in a hypothetical public referendum.

The data signal that efforts to end birthright citizenship would likely be politically unpopular and provoke significant debate over constitutional principles and fairness.

Detailed Discussion

Surveys have asked Americans about birthright citizenship using different wording and formats.  Most have consistently shown majority or plurality support for keeping birthright citizenship as specified in the US constitution. Support hovers around the 60% level, while opposition is in the 30 to 40% range.

Across these measures:

  • Opposition to changing the birthright citizenship policy ranges from 51% to 67%. [1, 2]
  • Support/favor (both are present) for changing the policy ranges from 28% to 45%. [1, 3]
  • The typical distribution is roughly 60% opposition, 35% support, and 5% undecided.

The typical distribution is roughly 60% opposition to ending birthright citizenship, 35% support, and 5% undecided. A January 2025 survey, for example, found 61% of Americans preferring to continue automatically granting citizenship to children born in the U.S. (30% who favored changing). [12]

Visual summary of detailed discussion

There is little evident change in these attitudes across 2025. Surveys conducted in April and July mirror early-year findings, reinforcing that attitudes are stable and not trending in either direction. [2, 3]

These levels of support are mostly based on binary questions presenting survey respondents with support or oppose alternatives.

One question from 2025 used a three-response-category format in which the respondent was asked if they favored or opposed or didn't have an opinion either way on the proposal to change the United States constitution on birthright citizenship. Even here, favorability of birthright citizenship was at the 51% level, compared to opposition at 28% while another 20% chose the explicit no opinion alternative. [4]

Impact of Question Wording and Context

Question wording has some impact on responses, but these variations do not alter the underlying conclusion about public opinion on this topic. Consistent majority opposition to ending birthright citizenship is evident across 11 separate questions used in 2025.

  • Several surveys used double negatives (e.g., asking whether respondents “support or oppose ending” birthright citizenship). Despite potential confusion, results remained consistent. [5, 6, 7]
  • Some questions explicitly referenced the 14th Amendment, while others used simpler phrasing or included terms such as “children of undocumented immigrants.” These wording choices produced minimal variation in outcomes.
  • Two questions mentioned Donald Trump. [2, 3, 5]
    • One of these questions was a long, complex statement outlining Trump's opposition and his signing of an executive order limiting birthright citizenship to children who had at least one parent who was a U.S. citizen. This question also mentioned the fact that others had sued Trump and his executive order. The result of this complex binary question remained roughly in line with other questions asked during the year, with 56% disapproval of the executive order and 43% approval among national adults. [8]
    • A different question among national adults simply mentioned Trump's support for ending birthright citizenship. The results show no major difference from the other binary questions asked during the year, with 59% opposed and 28% in support. [3]
  • In short, questions explicitly referencing Trump produced results in line with other surveys.
  • One question asked about “people” born in the United States to parents who immigrated illegally. This wording did not include a reference to “children” and produced a split response, 50% support 40% opposed. The question appeared in a sequence with two other questions asking about children of parents who immigrated legally or parents who were U.S. citizens, which have lowered positive responses to the “people born to parents who immigrated illegally” version due to the explicit contrast with the other two versions. [9, 10, 11]
  • A January 2025 survey found 61% of Americans preferring to continue automatically granting citizenship to U.S.-born children of non-citizens, compared to 30% who favored changing that policy.

Overall, estimates of Americans’ attitudes about birthright citizenship remain remarkably consistent regardless of question wording, context, emphasis, or political framing. A majority of Americans favor maintaining birthright citizenship, with a strength of conviction well above the majority line. A persistent one-third bloc appears open to constitutional change. Birthright citizenship appears to be a settled constitutional norm. If put to a national referendum, the proposal to end birthright citizenship would likely fail, though not by a landslide.

Trends Over Time (2022-2025)

Very few surveys asked the public about birthright citizenship prior to 2025. A December 2024 question used wording similar to those used this year. The 2024 question produced similar results: 63% continue, 29% change. [10] A question providing three response alternatives in a November 2024 survey provided respondents with an explicit ‘neither of the above” option. Results: 43% opposed changing the birthright citizenship rule, 24% in favor, and 28% not offering an opinion. [11]

Bottom Line: Limited data provide little evidence of significant change in attitudes towards birthright citizenship over the past four years. 

Citations

  1. Washington Post/Ipsos. (2025). Support is mixed for the Trump administration's executive orders and policies. Fielded 2/13/25-2/18/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  2. Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos. (2025). Trump at 100 Days: Recession Fears, Policy Pushback – Yet Still an Edge Over the Democrats. Fielded 4/18/25-4/22/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  3. CNN/SSRS. (2025). Americans largely oppose Trump's ramp-up of deportations. Fielded 7/10/25-7/13/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  4. Associated Press/AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (2025). US adults want border security action but mostly oppose arrests in schools, churches. Fielded 1/9/25-1/13/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  5. New York Times/Ipsos. (2025). Heading into Trump's second term, Americans are deeply divided. Fielded 1/2/25-1/10/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  6. Ipsos. (2025). Support for some Trump executive orders is mixed. Fielded 1/24/25-1/26/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  7. NPR/Ipsos. (2025). Muted support for recent immigration crackdowns. Fielded 2/7/25-2/10/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  8. Pew Research Center/SSRS. (2025). Trump's executive order on birthright citizenship draws more disapproval than approval. Fielded 1/27/25-2/2/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  9. Pew Research Center/SSRS. (2025). U.S. public is split on birthright citizenship for people whose parents immigrated illegally. Fielded 4/7/25-4/13/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  10. Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. (2024). Slight Majority Oppose Tariffs On Mexico, Canada & China. Fielded 12/12/24-12/16/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  11. 2024 American National Election Survey (ANES). (2025). Fielded 8/3/24-11/5/24.
  12. Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. (2025). Majority Of Voters Oppose GOP Budget Bill, With Just 67% Of Republicans In Support; Trump Job Approval: 38%, His Handling Of Russia - Ukraine War Lowest Among List Of Issues. Fielded 6/5/25-6/9/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research

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