National Poll: Voters Support a Detain-and-Deport Policy as Illegal Immigration Surges to a Top Concern 

WASHINGTON, D.C. (February 15, 2024) – Cygnal, the nation’s fastest growing and most accurate private polling firm, released this national poll (conducted Feb. 6-8) of general election voters. 

“Illegal immigration can no longer be treated as a secondary or even a tertiary issue on the campaign trail,” said Pollster and Director of Client Strategy, Chris Lane. “Not only are voters bombarded with media coverage on the impacts of the border crisis, but they’re also experiencing it in their communities, and that gives credence to the narrative that every town is a border town. This confluence works in the Republicans’ favor because 48% of voters now say they trust the Republican Party more to address our nation’s border security, including a 2:1 margin of Independents.” 

“We also saw overwhelming support for governors like Greg Abbott in Texas who are taking more aggressive steps to combat the crisis in the wake of presidential inaction and the inability of Congress to provide additional resources,” said Lane. “This is why we see nearly 70% of voters supporting enforcement of current immigration law along with deportations and the freezing of new immigration until the crisis is resolved.” 

Here are more of Lane’s top takeaways from this new national poll:  

1. Illegal immigration has spiked more than 10 points among the top issues for voters since December. A whopping 57% believe the government should detain and deport illegal immigrants instead of letting them go. 58% of Independent voters agree. A strong plurality (45%) say the U.S. needs to enforce current immigration laws and another quarter now say immigration should be completely frozen until the border crisis is resolved. 
2. 18% of Democrats believe there should be no border at all, and “anyone who wants to, should be able to enter the country”. 
3. The nation has fallen further into pessimism with 63% of voters saying the U.S. is on the wrong track. This is up 9 points from December. President Biden’s perception (-14 net favorable) continues to worsen and remains very low with 45% of voters holding a ‘very unfavorable’ opinion. 
4. The top concern for voters remains inflation and the economy (27%) but the issue of illegal immigration (25%) and the crisis along the southern border continues to surge. The difference between the two issues is only two points indicating voters are clear on which issues they believe require the most attention from elected officials.