Most Trump voters are 'animated by a strong anti-immigration sentiment' and worry that an increase in immigrants will threaten their jobs and pay: poll
- 61% of Trump voters said they were concerned about getting paid less due to an increase in immigrants in the US, per a new poll.
- Another 51% said they were worried about losing their current job for the same reasons.
New polling released on Thursday by Project Home Fire in partnership with University of Virginia's Center for Politics reveals that people who voted for former President Donald Trump worry that an increase in immigration will threaten not only the culture of the United States, but also their own job security.
Sixty-one percent of Trump voters said they were strongly or somewhat concerned about receiving lower pay from their current job due to an increase in immigrants coming to the country, while 59% said they were strongly or somewhat worried that immigrants would prevent them from getting a higher-paying job.
Another 51% of respondents said they were at least somewhat worried that they would lose their current job due to an increase in immigration.
The poll, which also found that 84% of Trump voters are at least somewhat concerned about discrimination against white people, underscores the degree to which Trump voters' political concerns are driven by immigration.
"Trump voters are deeply and personally animated by a strong anti-immigration sentiment that unites their thinking across previously distinct and separate policy areas," according to the report.
But the concerns don't stop at job security - in fact, they're even higher on other counts. Seventy-one percent of Trump voters were at least somewhat concerned that they would become victims of violent crimes due to an increase in immigration, while another 71% said they were worried about becoming the victims of terrorism fueled by an uptick in immigration.
People who voted for President Joe Biden largely do not share these concerns, making clear the nation's political divide. Just 37% of Biden voters were worried about immigrant-driven violent crime, while between 30% and 34% of Biden voters believed immigrants negatively impacted their job security.
"Our initial analysis suggests that 56% of the electorate profile as unpersuadable on immigration and cultural matters at this time," the report stated.
This poll was conducted online from July 22 to August 4 and surveyed 2,012 voters, including 1,001 Trump voters and 1,011 Biden voters. The poll had a margin of error of 2.2 percentage points.