Poll: Immigration is No. 2 Problem in America, Behind Dysfunctional Government – By Michael W. Chapman (cnsnews.com) / Feb 16 2018
(CNSNews.com) — A new survey shows that the most important problem facing this country is “dissatisfaction with government” and the second most important problem is “immigration,” which has climbed dramatically since January as a major concern, according to Gallup.
In its survey, Gallup asked adults all over the country, “What do you think is the most important problem facing this country today?”
For February, 22% said dissatisfaction with government, and then 15% said immigration. In January, those numbers were, respectively, 25% and 8%. Concern over immigration jumped 7 percentage points.
The third most important problem cited was “race relations” at 8%. The least important concern was “environment/pollution” at 3%.
“Despite the fact that leaders of both major parties have made immigration a central issue of policy debates, the increase in mentions of immigration as the nation’s No. 1 problem is fueled almost entirely by Republicans and Republican-leaning independents, among whom 25% now name immigration as the top problem, compared with 16% in January,” said Gallup. “Democrats infrequently mention immigration, with 4% doing so in January and 6% now.”
“Still, even with Americans’ increasing concern about immigration as the country’s top problem, dysfunctional government continues to be the No. 1 problem mentioned, as it was for all of 2017,” reported Gallup. “The public’s displeasure with government is also seen in the low 15% job approval rating Americans currently give Congress.
“Perhaps some of the reasons for Americans’ citing dysfunctional government as the top problem indirectly reflect their immigration concerns — specifically, Congress’ inability so far to deal with the issue,” said the polling firm.
For its survey, Gallup interviewed 1,044 adults in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, Feb. 1-10. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4 percentage points.
