Border Wall

Last updated: February 2026.

Key Point Summary

Public opinion on building or expanding wall infrastructure along the U.S.–Mexico border has shifted modestly toward support in 2025, although American reactions to the concept of a border wall vary substantially depending on how the concept is explained.

  • Surveys that ask about “expanding” the wall receive clear majority support. Surveys that ask about “building a wall” along the border receive slight majority or in some instances plurality support.
  • Surveys that explicitly mention increased spending or a specific dollar amount generate more opposition than support.

Bottom line: Americans tend to be more in favor than opposed to the basic concept of a border wall, including its expansion. Support for a border wall does appear to be stronger than in recent years, but drops below the majority level when respondents are reminded of its cost. These results suggest that American opinion, while generally tilting towards support of the idea of a wall, remains somewhat fluid and susceptible to change when cost issues are raised.

Availability of Data and Confidence in Conclusions

This assessment is based on 6 questions from 6 nationally representative surveys conducted between 2025 and 2026, with a total sample size of 14,018. The data capture attitudes among U.S. adults on building or expanding a wall along the southern border. The evidence base is solid but limited in scope and frequency. Consistency appears moderate: many questions center on the same general issue, but support for a border wall appears more sensitive to framing than support for border enforcement more generally. Relatively modest wording differences may affect whether results show majority support or opposition. The evidence is sufficient to summarize the broad contours of opinion, but the exact level of support is somewhat less stable. By comparison, our 2022-2024 polling data on the border wall consists of 17 questions from 14 nationally representative surveys, with a total sample size of 23,603.

Overall Confidence: FAIR.

Policy Implications

Policymakers can point to plurality support for building or expanding wall infrastructure along the U.S. southern border. This increases the political viability of the issue, though not without risk.

Despite modestly growing support, opposition to the idea of a wall along the U.S. southern border remains substantial. Political leaders or advocates considering wall expansion should anticipate potential backlash when cost issues are raised. Leaders who argue for expansion of a wall and who tie it to increased border security will find most success. Opponents who emphasize costs will in turn resonate with a significant proportion of the U.S. population.

Detailed Discussion

Overall Support Levels

Survey questions asked in 2025 show a modest but consistent plurality of Americans supported building or expanding the border wall. Four of six surveys show more support than opposition, with positive gaps ranging from +4 to +14 points [1, 2]. Support is higher when the question asks about “expansion of a border wall” than when the question asks about “building” a border wall [1, 2].

The two questions which produce negative results framed the issue in terms of spending. One poll in June 2025 asked about "spending about $50 billion to complete a wall" and found 35% support among national adults vs. 52% opposed [3]. Another poll in July 2025 asked about "increasing spending on the border wall" as part of budget legislation and found 44% approval among registered voters vs. 55% opposed [4].

Most Americans express an opinion when asked about the wall. The proportion answering “don’t know” or refusing ranges from 1% to 5% in most polls, with the highest proportions (11%) found among funding-related question wordings [3]. While majorities in favor remain limited (topping out at 57%), consistent pluralities suggest that attitudes have stabilized on the supportive side of the divide [2].

Impact of Question Wording and Context

Survey wording appears to be meaningfully related to responses.

  • Straightforward language about “building a wall along the border” or “substantially expanding the wall” results in a majority in favor      (57% among national adults in June 2025) [2].
  • Support is higher when the question asks about expanding the wall (57% support) than when the question asks about building a wall (49% support versus 37% opposed) [2, 5].
  • General formulations asking about support or favor without additional context also produced favorable results among both national adults (49% support vs. 37% oppose in February 2025) and registered voters (53% favor vs. 44% oppose in January 2025) [5, 6].
  • When questions frame the issue in financial terms, support weakens.
  • Including the wall as part of a larger spending package narrowed the margin (51% favor, 47% oppose) [1].
  • Explicit references to “increasing spending” flipped opinion (44% support, 55% oppose) [4].
  • A question which asked about spending $50 billion dollars on a wall received 52% opposition, 35% support [3].

These findings suggest that cost framing dampens enthusiasm for the wall, whereas more general or symbolic wording yields greater approval.

Trends over Time

Public opinion on the border wall has evolved notably over the past three years.

2022: A 2022 poll found plurality support (46%) among national adults for expanding the border wall, with 44% opposed and 9% not familiar with the issue [7].

2023: Across seven polls, results were mixed—three showed more support than opposition, three showed opposition, and one was evenly divided. Early 2023 polls among national adults leaned negative, but sentiment shifted toward support in the year's final months, with polls of registered voters showing 57% favor (vs. 40% oppose) in October, 52% support (vs. 44% oppose) in mid-October, and 54% favor (vs. 43% oppose) in December [8, 9, 10].

2024: Support for a border wall appeared to strengthen in 2024. Five of six polls showed a supportive plurality among both national adults and registered voters, with margins averaging +10 points in favor. The strongest support appeared among registered voters in February (55% favor vs. 42% oppose). One poll of national adults in January showed opposition leading (49% oppose vs. 47% support) [11, 12].

2025: Four of six polls in 2025 show more support than opposition. Early year polls showed favorability among registered voters (53% favor vs. 44% oppose in January) and support among national adults (49% support vs. 37% oppose in February). The highest favorability      appeared in June among national adults (57% favor vs. 43% oppose for "substantially expanding the wall"). However, two polls in June and July that explicitly mentioned spending showed majority opposition among both national adults (52% oppose) and registered voters (55% disapprove) [2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Interpretation: After years of division, public sentiment has modestly consolidated in favor of the wall. Support peaked in 2024 and remains positive in 2025, though with some volatility depending on framing and context.

Citations

  1. Wall Street Journal/Impact Research/Fabrizio Lee. (2025). Wall Street Journal Poll July 2025. Fielded 7/16/25-7/20/25.
  2. Pew Research Center/SSRS. (2025). Americans Have Mixed to Negative Views of Trump Administration Immigration Actions. Fielded 6/2/25-6/8/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  3. The Washington Post/Ipsos. (2025). Americans support extending some tax cuts in House budget – but not for the wealthy or corporations. Fielded 6/6/25-6/10/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  4. Fox News/Beacon Research/Shaw & Company Research. (2025). Fox July 2025 Topline - July 29 Release. Fielded 7/18/25-7/21/25.
  5. NPR/Ipsos. (2025). Muted support for recent immigration crackdowns. Fielded 2/7/25-2/10/25. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  6. Wall Street Journal/GBAO/Fabrizio Lee. (2025). Wall Street Journal Poll January 2025. Fielded 1/9/25-1/14/25.
  7. FiveThirtyEight/Ipsos. (2022). On combatting climate change, Americans prefer mitigation to adaptation. Fielded 9/6/22-9/19/22. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  8. Fox News/Shaw & Co. Research/Beacon Research. (2023). Wall garners record support, as half feel situation on southern border is an 'emergency'. Fielded 10/6/23-10/9/23. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  9. Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. (2023). 85% Of Voters Concerned Israel - Hamas War Will Escalate Into A Wider War In The Middle East, Quinnipiac University National Poll Finds; Approval For Building Border Wall With Mexico Reaches Record High. Fielded 10/12/23-10/16/23. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  10. Fox News/Shaw & Co. Research/Beacon Research. (2023). Trump's lead in GOP primary widens. Fielded 12/10/23-12/13/23. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.
  11. Wall Street Journal/GBAO/Fabrizio Lee. (2024). Wall Street Journal Poll February 2024. Fielded 2/21/24-2/28/24.
  12. Quinnipiac University Polling Institute. (2024). 2024 Matchups: Biden Opens Up Lead Over Trump In Head-To-Head. Fielded 1/25/24-1/29/24. Accessed via Roper Center for Public Opinion Research.

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