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Most Hispanic Voters Favor Stronger Border Enforcement

A majority of Hispanics who voted in this month’s midterm elections favor increased enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

The new national telephone and online survey by Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA finds that 57% of U.S. Hispanic 2022 midterm voters believe the government is doing too little to reduce illegal border crossings and visitor overstays. Only 16% say the government is doing too much immigration enforcement, while 17% rate the level of action as about right. Another 11% are not sure. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Those findings for Hispanic voters are not significantly different from the numbers for all U.S. voters in the most recent Rasmussen Reports Immigration Index.

Furthermore, the new survey finds that a majority of Hispanic voters are even more in favor of reducing legal immigration, which has averaged around a million annually in recent years, than the U.S. electorate at large. Just 13% of Hispanic voters want to increase the number of new immigrants over one million. Another 10% are comfortable with one million newcomers each year. Sixty-two percent (62%), however, believe the government should be adding no more than 750,000 new immigrants annually, with 50% who say it should be fewer than 500,000. Fifteen percent (15%) are not sure. Compare that to 37% among all U.S. voters who believe legal immigration should be under 500,000, in the most recent Immigration Index survey.

“Hispanic voters are not different from other voters,” said NumbersUSA Vice-President of Operations Jim Robb. “They want strong, secure borders and immigration policies that protect American workers’ jobs and wages.”

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The survey of 515 national U.S. Hispanic 2022 midterm voters was conducted on November 8-9, 2022 by Rasmussen Reports and NumbersUSA. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Sixty-four percent (64%) of Hispanic voters believe that, in trying to control illegal immigration, the government should mandate that all employers use the federal electronic E-Verify system to help ensure that they hire only legal workers for U.S. jobs. Only 25% oppose making E-Verify mandatory, while another 11% are not sure. Again, this finding mirrors the views of all U.S. voters, who have consistently championed E-Verify throughout the history of the Immigration Index.

In general, 56% of Hispanic voters favor immigration policies that prevent illegal border crossings and illegal immigrants from getting jobs in the US. Thirty-two percent (32%) favor policies that allow illegal border crossings and illegal immigrants getting jobs, while another 13% are not sure.

Among other findings of the Rasmussen Reports/NumbersUSA survey of midterm Hispanic voters:

– Fifty percent (50%) voted for Democrats in U.S. House races, while 40% voted for Republicans.

– Thirty-one percent (31%) of Hispanic voters rate the Biden administration as good or excellent for its handling of the issue of illegal immigration, while 44% gave the administration a poor rating on the issue.

– Among Hispanic voters who identify as Republican, 71% say the government is doing too little to prevent illegal immigration, an opinion shared by 49% of Hispanic Democrats and 60% of Hispanic voters not affiliated with either major party.

– Majorities of Hispanic voters of every political affiliation – 71% of Republicans, 61% of Democrats and 62% of unaffiliated voters – favor making the E-Verify system mandatory.

– Most Hispanic voters oppose so-called “chain immigration” under current U.S. policy which allows documented immigrants to bring in not just their spouse and children but also eventually other adult relatives that can include extended family and their spouses' families. A majority (58%) think documented immigrants should be able to bring only their spouse and children with them, while just 33% favor current policy.

NumbersUSA’s Robb noted that, “the greatest border crisis in U.S. history,” exit polls showed record levels of Hispanic voters choosing Republicans.

“This poll and recent election results show that immigration and border policies that protect American workers are increasingly attracting Hispanic Voters,” Robb said. “If they want to continue to make gains among Hispanic voters the GOP needs to continue to stay strong on immigration and border security while the Democrats need to move to more restrictive immigration policies.”

Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to the public as well as to Platinum Members.

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The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

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