Border Security

Last updated: February 2026.

Key Point Summary

Majorities or pluralities of Americans in 2025 and early 2026 support specific, high-enforcement border security policies. These include deploying U.S. troops to the border, making border security a high government priority, and passing large-scale funding for enforcement agents and wall construction. Research conducted prior to 2025 also shows majority support for general increases in border security and increased spending on border patrol agents.

  • A majority and in many instances a strong majority of Americans interviewed in recent years support increased border security and increased funding for border patrol agents.
  • A clear majority of American adults favor maintaining a large military presence at the U.S. border with Mexico.
  • Even when asked about a series of specific border security actions (increasing border security funding by $170 billion to hire 10,000 new ICE officers, construct the border wall, and build 100,000 migrant detention beds) American registered voters in July 2025 tilted slightly more towards favor than opposition.

American adults in 2025 were much more likely to say that increasing security at the U.S.-Mexico border should be a "high priority" for the federal government than to say it was a low priority.

Bottom line: 2025 and early 2026 data show public support for policy actions designed to enhance enforcement and security at the U.S-Mexico border.

Availability of Data and Confidence in Conclusions

This assessment draws on 10 questions from 9 nationally representative surveys conducted between 2025 and 2026, with a total sample size of 23,447. The evidence base is meaningful but limited compared to polling data on border security prior to 2025. The survey items vary in their wording, from general concepts (“Increasing security at the United States-Mexico border”) to specific, high-cost, and controversial proposals (“sending U.S. troops” and a “$170 billion” funding package). Consistency appears moderate: despite variation in question wording and policy actions, the questions generally point in the same broad direction—support for stronger border enforcement and security measures. Results across these different question types show a consistent pattern of plurality or majority support for enhanced security, suggesting stable underlying attitudes in favor of enforcement. By comparison, our 2022–2024 polling data on border security consist of 44 questions from 33 nationally representative surveys, with a total sample size of 176,302.

Overall Confidence: GOOD.

Policy Implications

Policymakers have considerable public license to pursue aggressive border security measures. Support among registered voters for maintaining a large presence at the border, a significant logistical and political action, is a particularly strong indicator of public support for decisive enforcement.

Furthermore, the 51% of registered voters favoring a $170 billion funding package, which includes provisions for a border wall and increased detention capacity, suggests that at least half of voters are not deterred by a high price tag or potentially controversial components when packaged as a comprehensive security bill.

Policymakers advocating for increased border security measures can generally point to majority public backing.

Detailed Discussion

Surveys conducted in 2025 and early 2026 demonstrate consistent public support for enhanced border security measures.

  • A January 2026 poll found 62% of American adults favor maintaining a large military presence at the U.S. border with Mexico [1].
  • A January 2025 poll found a clear majority, 60%, of registered voters approved of sending U.S. troops to the southern border to enforce security [2].
  • The results are very similar when the same question was asked among American adults in February 2025, but with the inclusion of an explicit reference to Donald Trump; 58% of American adults approved of the Trump administration sending additional United States military forces to the US border with Mexico [3].
  • A July 2025 poll found registered voters tilted slightly towards favoring rather than opposing a question asking about immigration related components of the funding package known as the Big Beautiful Bill. The listed components (all included in one question) included spending $170 billion on border security funding, hiring 10,000 new ICE officers, constructing the border wall, and building new migrant detention beds. (51% were in favor, 47% were opposed.) This is significant given that other polling shows opposition to the Big Beautiful tax package in general [4].
  • A January 2025 survey found only 20% of American adults said the U.S. is spending too much on border security, with 51% saying the country was spending too little, and 28% saying that spending is about right [5].

These results reflect a stable public desire for policy actions to increase border enforcement.

Impact of Question Wording and Other Survey Factors

  • Two questions asking about sending additional U.S. military forces to the southern US border with Mexico showed consistent results, with about six out of 10 Americans saying they approved. One of these questions mentioned this proposal as part of Donald Trump’s policies while the other didn't [2, 3]. The inclusion of the reference to Trump did not appear to make a difference.
  • The question showing 51% of registered voters in favor of immigration-related components of the Big, Beautiful Bill lumped together four different immigration policies, including the spending amount, hiring more ICE officers, building the wall, and building detention beds. Thus, this question did not allow for the disentanglement of support for these policies independently one by one. What the question does show: when respondents are reminded of all four of these together, more approve than disapprove [4].
  • One question used a separate format asking about the current level of spending on border security, with three alternatives offered to respondents. The results showed slightly over half saying that the U.S.  were currently spending too little, with 28% of American adults saying about right, leaving only 20% who said that we are spending too much. This format makes direct comparison to the other binary questions difficult. But the majority support even with three alternatives for the idea that the US is spending too little suggests reinforcement for the basic conclusion that Americans support additional border security funding [5].

Trends over Time

Public support for robust border security policies has been consistently high in polls conducted as far back as 2023, with large majorities favoring increases in personnel and funding.

  • Support for increasing enforcement resources was exceptionally high in 2023 and 2024.
    • December 2023: 79% of registered voters favored "Increasing the number of border agents" [6].
    • March 2024: 64% of American adults favored "Hire more border patrol agents" [7].
    • May 2024: 68% of American adults supported "Increasing spending on border security and immigration courts" [8].
    • August 2024: 86% of American adults favored "Improving security along the country's borders" [9].
  • Support for Military Deployment (2024–2026): Support for using the military at the border appears to have strengthened between early 2024 and early 2025.
    • February 2024: 55% of registered voters favored a proposal to "Deploy U.S. military troops to the U.S.-Mexico border" [10]
    • January 2025: Approval among registered voters for a similar measure, "sending U.S. troops to the southern border," stood at 60% [2].
    • January 2026: 62% favored "Maintaining a large military presence at the U.S. border with Mexico" (31% strongly favor + 31% somewhat favor) [1].

This pattern of consistently high support across different polls and wordings from 2023 through 2025 suggests a stable and durable public desire for more border enforcement.

Citations

  1. Pew Research Center/PEW. (2026). 2026 Pew Research Center's American Trends Panel Wave 185 Politics January Survey. Fielded 1/20/26-1/26/26.
  2. Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. (2025). Trump Begins Second Term Stronger Than The First, 6 In 10 Voters Approve Of Sending U.S. Troops To Southern Border. Fielded 1/23/25-1/27/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  3. Pew Research Center/SSRS. (2025). Public Anticipates Changes With Trump but Is Split Over Whether They Will Be Good or Bad. Fielded 1/27/25-2/2/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  4. Wall Street Journal/Impact Research/WSJ/Fabrizio Lee. (2025). NATIONWIDE POLL JULY 2025. Fielded 7/16/25-7/20/25.
  5. 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
  6. Fox News/Beacon Research/Shaw & Co. Research. (2023). Trump's lead in GOP primary widens. Fielded 12/10/23-12/13/23. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  7. Associated Press/AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. (2024). Many Americans say immigrants contribute to economy but there's worry over risks. Fielded 3/21/24-3/25/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  8. Ipsos. (2024). Ipsos 2024 U.S. National Election Survey – May 2024. Fielded 5/7/24-5/13/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  9. Pew Research Center/SSRS. (2024). Trump and Harris Supporters Differ on Mass Deportations but Favor Border Security, High-Skilled Immigration. Fielded 8/5/24-8/11/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research
  10. Wall Street Journal/GBAO/WSJ/Fabrizio Lee. (2024). Wall Street Journal: February 21 – 28, 2024. Fielded 2/21/24-2/28/24.

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