Oh Canada! Four In 10 Americans Want Wall On Northern Border

Oh Canada! Four In 10 Americans Want Wall On Northern Border

By John McCormick and Arit John, Bloomberg News (TNS)

CHICAGO — Failed Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker may feel some vindication in this number: 41 percent of Americans say that if a wall is built along the Mexican border, one should also be erected on the Canadian one. And yes, the same percentage favors a wall erected along the nation’s southern border.

The latest Bloomberg Politics poll that also shows that immigration, a flashpoint in the 2016 presidential campaign thanks in large point to the incendiary rhetoric of Republican front-runner Donald Trump, is an issue that stirs strong emotions among Americans, some of them contradictory. While four in 10 Americans favor border walls, overwhelming majorities also express positive feelings about immigration: 80 percent agree the U.S. economy has thrived historically because of new arrivals and 70 percent expressed approval for the efforts of Pope Francis to encourage nations to be more welcoming of immigrants.

It was a point the pontiff made almost immediately upon arriving in the U.S., telling a crowd at the White House: “As a son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families.”

Trump has called for a physical wall to be completed along the border with Mexico, a concept that 41 percent of Americans support and 55 percent oppose; 56 percent disagree with the idea of building a wall along the Canadian border, a notion that became one of the gaffes that hurt Walker’s candidacy, which the Wisconsin governor ended earlier this week. After initially indicating that he thought the idea was worth additional study, Walker later clarified that he didn’t actually want to build a physical wall along the more than 5,000-mile border.

Jake Crosan, 73, a retired truck driver from Pigeon Forge, Tenn., is someone who does favor a wall along the Canadian border, if one is built along the southern border.

“If you cut off one, they’re going to come in the other way,” said Crosan, a Trump supporter. “It’s desolate up there in some places on the Canadian border and they’ve gotta do something up there to stop them from coming in.”

Asked if he worried of the cost of such a project, Crosan said it would be a good investment for the government and American people. “The money we would save by keeping the illegals out would pay for itself,” he said. “They’re taking our jobs, and the more people we get back to work, they pay taxes. It’ll pay for itself.”

Among other immigration proposals tested, the greatest support recorded was for requiring businesses to verify the immigration status of new hires, with 75 percent backing this approach.

The next most popular proposal, winning the backing of 47 percent of Americans: issuing visas granting permanent residency to foreign-born students educated in the U.S. so that they can stay and work after graduation. Closely following was the 44 percent who favor streamlining the process for employers to hire the seasonal and permanent employees they need when Americans are not filling vacancies.

A slim majority of Americans — 54 percent — agree with this statement: “Immigration is a national security concern, so legal and illegal immigration should be decreased.”

The poll shows Americans are divided on the question of whether immigrants create jobs, with 48 percent agreeing with the statement that the U.S. needs more jobs and should “selectively encourage more legal immigration,” while 46 percent disagree.

Just 30 percent say American culture will be lost if the U.S. continues to take in immigrants, while 67 percent disagree with that sentiment. Among registered Republican and those who lean Republican, 57 percent disagree, while 77 percent of Democrats disagree American culture will be lost.

Paul Emel, 38, a shop foreman in a Kansas glass factory, supports Trump in part because of his views on immigration.

“It’s not all the foreigners that bother me,” he said. “It’s the foreigners that get in the welfare line and the ones that hate America. They get in the welfare line and say we owe them everything and if you don’t agree with me you need to have your head chopped off.”

Among other issues polled, campaign finance reform garnered some of the strongest support among Democrats and Republicans. Nearly nine in 10 Americans want campaign finance rules changed so that the wealthy don’t have more influence than those without money.

(John McCormick reported from Chicago. Arit John reported from New York. Freeman Klopott contributed to this article.)

(c)2015 Bloomberg News. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Photo: tuchodi via Flickr

Start your day with National Memo Newsletter

Know first.

The opinions that matter. Delivered to your inbox every morning

How A Stuttering President Confronts A Right-Wing Bully

Donald Trump mocks Joe Biden’s stutter,” the headlines blare, and I am confronted (again) with (more) proof that the presumptive Republican presidential nominee hates people like me.

Keep reading...Show less
Trump at Trump Tower

Former President Donald Trump at Trump Tower in Manhattan

NEW YORK, March 25 (Reuters) - Donald Trump faces a Monday deadline to post a bond to cover a $454 million civil fraud judgment or face the risk of New York state seizing some of his marquee properties.Trump, seeking to regain the presidency this year, must either pay the money out of his own pocket or post a bond while he appeals Justice Arthur Engoron's February 16 judgment against him for manipulating his net worth and his family real estate company's property values to dupe lenders and insurers.

Keep reading...Show less
{{ post.roar_specific_data.api_data.analytics }}