The majority of Americans—including about a quarter of Democrats—are concerned about non-citizens voting in the 2024 election and also support mass deportation of undocumented migrants, according to a new poll that comes as Republicans have amplified the false suggestion that Democrats are allowing migrants into the U.S. to vote for them.
Former President Donald Trump speaks at the U.S.-Mexico border on August 22, 2024 near Sierra Vista, ... [+]
Fifty-one percent of adults are concerned about non-citizens voting in the upcoming election, including 83% of Republicans, 46% of independents and 24% of Democrats, according to a new Scripps/Ipsos poll of 1,027 adults (margin of error 3.6).
Former President Donald Trump has repeatedly made the false claim that the Biden-Harris administration has facilitated an influx of undocumented migrants into the U.S. so they can vote for Democrats.
In a nod to Trump’s claims, the House is expected to vote this week on legislation that would require proof of citizenship to register to vote in conjunction with a bill to avert a government shutdown.
There is no evidence to support Trump’s suggestion that Democrats are promoting illegal immigration, and it is already illegal for non-citizens to vote—which they rarely attempt to do, according to multiple studies.
The Scripps/Ipsos poll also found 54% of respondents “strongly” or “somewhat” support Trump’s plan to deport undocumented migrants en masse, which critics say could clog detention centers and immigration courts, hamstring law enforcement resources and cost billions.
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Federal law requires voters to swear on their registration forms that they are U.S. citizens, under risk of perjury, but it does not require them to provide proof. Studies consistently show attempts to break the law are rare, including an audit by Republican Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that found 1,634 non-citizens attempted to register to vote between 1997 and 2022, but none actually voted. The libertarian Cato Institute also determined “there is no good evidence that noncitizens voted illegally in large enough numbers to actually shift the outcome of elections or even change the number of electoral votes.”
Congress has until midnight on Sept. 30, the end of the 2024 fiscal year, to approve a new spending plan to avert a government shutdown. Some Republicans have threatened to oppose any bill that does not include the voting provision, and Trump has urged lawmakers to allow a shutdown without it. The House is expected to vote Wednesday on legislation that would extend the existing plan temporarily to give lawmakers time to work out a deal for a new fiscal year 2025 budget. The House bill, with the voting provision attached, is dead-on-arrival in the Democrat-controlled Senate.
39%. That’s the share of Scripps/Ipsos poll respondents who said immigration is the most important issue facing the country, second only to inflation.
Trump is planning a litany of strict anti-immigration policies if he’s re-elected, including prohibiting undocumented immigrants from receiving any benefits, reinstituting his so-called “travel ban” from certain countries and ending birthright citizenship for the children of undocumented immigrants. He has also promised to shut down the border to asylum seekers. Trump has repeatedly, and wrongly claimed, Harris is responsible for an increase in illegal immigration as the White House “border czar,” mischaracterizing her responsibilities related to immigration related to her role in looking at developing policies to curb migration from three Central American countries. Harris has not provided extensive details on her immigration policies, but she has blamed Trump for urging Republicans to kill a bipartisan border bill that would have installed new limitations for asylum seekers.
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