More Americans want immigration increased than decreased for the 1st time in Gallup poll's history

An immigrant naturalization ceremony in 2018.

(Image credit: BRYAN R. SMITH/AFP via Getty Images)

published 1 July 2020

Americans' approval of immigration has hit a big new milestone.

Gallup has been surveying Americans' opinions on immigration since 1965, asking them annually if they'd like to see immigration increase, decrease, or stay at the same levels. A preference for increasing immigration has been rising since the early 2000's and, in Gallup's poll released Wednesday, surpassed the percentage of respondents who wanted to see immigration decrease. This was first time in the survey's 55-year history that the proportions flipped.

A total of 34 percent of respondents said they wanted to see immigration increase. Meanwhile 28 percent said they wanted it to decrease, while 36 percent said it should stay at the same levels. That's a big change from the early days of Gallup's polling, where the percentage of Americans who wanted immigration to increase remained steady at 7 percent for nearly 30 years. The proportion of Americans who wanted to see immigration decrease meanwhile increased over that time.

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Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.

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