The vast majority of Americans believe the federal government has poorly handled the historic surge of migrants arriving at the US-Mexico border under President Biden, according to a new poll.
Just 18% of people surveyed said the government is doing a good job dealing with migrants seeking to enter the US at the southern border, while 80% said it is doing a bad job, according to a Pew Research Center poll released Thursday.
Among those who took issue with the government’s handling of the migrant influx, 45% characterized it as “a very bad job.”
The pollster noted that 73% of Democrats who gave the government a negative rating on the border is the highest share ever recorded since Biden, 81, took office.
“Americans overwhelmingly fault the government for how it has handled the migrant situation,” the Pew Research Center report states.
Most Americans, 78%, also describe the situation at the US-Mexico border under Biden as either a “crisis” or a “major problem.”
Republicans – 70% – were more likely than Democrats – 22% – to label the border situation as a “crisis,” with 45% Democrats preferring to call it a “major problem.”
More than half of Americans, or 57%, believe the unprecedented influx of migrants is leading to more crime, while 39% responded the border crisis is not having much of an impact on crime.
When asked about policies that could improve the situation of the southern border, 60% said that increasing the number of immigration judges would have a positive effect.
A majority, 56%, feel that creating more opportunities for migrants to legally enter the country would help.
Less than half, 41%, responded that expanding the border wall between the US and Mexico would make the situation better, and only 36% said adding resources to provide safe and sanitary conditions for arriving migrants would be constructive policy.
The Pew Research Center poll was conducted between Jan. 16 and Jan. 21 and surveyed 5,140 US adults.
House Republicans, most of whom are fed up with Biden’s handling of the border crisis, voted to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this week, accusing the administration official of failing to enforce federal immigration law and lying to Congress about the situation on the US-Mexico border.
Several GOP lawmakers in the House and Senate have also vowed to withhold aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan over concerns that Democrats and the Biden administration are not doing enough to secure the southern border while doling out billions of dollars in foreign aid.