A majority of American voters view immigrants and diversity as enriching the United States, says a new survey while finding fissures between and within Democratic and Republican parties in the charged political season.
A Pew Research Center national survey in the second half of March 2016 finds that overall, 57% of all registered voters say that immigrants in the United States today strengthen the country because of their hard work and talents.
On the opposing end, 35% voters see immigrants as a burden because they take jobs, housing and health care.
Conducted between March 17 and 27, the latest national survey among 2,254 adults, including 1,787 registered voters, finds higher levels of dissatisfaction with long-term changes in the country.
The findings come as the 2016 presidential election nomination race gets hotter between three top Republicans Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and John Kasich, while Bernie Sanders challenges Hillary Clinton.
Immigration is one of the intensely debated issues that range from economic conditions to working of the federal government and perceptions about Islam, Muslims and Mexicans.
The Pew says Republican and Democratic registered voters remain far apart on key questions regarding perceptions of immigrants and immigration policy, views on the security treatment of U.S. Muslims and views on issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage.
“The major issues that have emerged in the presidential campaign reveal divisions within the two parties in different ways.”
But for the most part, the research finds, gaps are much wider among Republican voters than among Democrats, especially when it comes to opinions about immigrants and immigration policy, government scrutiny of Muslims in the United States, and abortion and other social issues.
For example, Republican and Republican-leaning voters are more than three times more likely than Democrats and Democratic leaners to view immigrants as a burden (56% vs. 17%).
Findings say among those who support Trump for the GOP nomination, 69% say immigrants are a burden, compared with 51% of Cruz supporters and 40% of Kasich supporters. Fewer than one-in-five Clinton (17%) and Sanders supporters (14%) consider immigrants a burden on the country.
The opinions in the 2016 election season have been shaped by a variety of factors and marked by anti-Muslim rhetoric in the backdrop of recent incidents of extremist violence in Paris and Brussels.
Some presidential contenders Donald Trump and Ted Cruz have respectively proposed extreme measures including a temporary ban on Muslims entry into the United States and surveillance of American Muslims.
But the survey reveals that the majority of Americans do not subscribe to such discriminatory treatment of Muslims. Nationally, the trend indicates a higher level of respect for pluralism, interfaith understanding and coexistence than exhibited on the Republican campaign trail.
“Overall, most voters continue to oppose subjecting Muslims living in the United States to greater scrutiny solely because of their religion.”
The GOP voters are divided on the issue: most Trump (64%) and Cruz supporters (53%) say U.S. Muslims should be subject to heightened scrutiny; most of those who support Kasich (58%) say they should not.
On the Democratic side, large majorities of Sanders (85%) and Clinton supporters (75%) oppose subjecting U.S. Muslims to additional scrutiny solely because of their religion.
Regarding the impact of diverse population on American, the survey says about six-in-ten voters (59%) say an increasing number of people from many different races, ethnic groups and nationalities in the U.S. makes the country a better place to live.
While 31% say increasing diversity does not make much difference either way, while just 8% say increasing diversity makes the U.S. a worse place to live.
Among Republican voters who support Donald Trump, about as many say diversity makes the U.S. a better place to live (39%) as say it doesn’t make a difference (42%); 17% say it makes the U.S. a worse place to live. Ted Cruz supporters are somewhat more likely than Trump supporters to say diversity makes the U.S. a better place to live (48% vs. 39%); 38% of Cruz supporters say diversity doesn’t make a difference, while 11% say it makes the country a worse place to live. Among Republicans who support John Kasich, more say diversity improves life in the U.S. (54%) than say it doesn’t make a difference (35%); just 9% think it makes life in the country worse.
Among Democratic voters, roughly seven-in-ten of both Sanders (73%) and Clinton (72%) supporters say increasing diversity makes the country a better place to live, while about a quarter of both groups say it doesn’t make much difference either way. Hardly any Democratic voters say growing diversity makes the country a worse place to live.
