While it is still "the economy, stupid" when it comes to the 2024 election cycle, a new poll finds a surge in importance in the southern border as a voting issue.
Immigration is the No. 2 issue to the economy for registered voters, and the latest Fox News poll found 79% view the southern border at least a major problem. That includes a plurality of 45% saying it is a major problem and 34% saying it is an emergency.
There was a 14-point drop from October (48%) in those viewing it as emergency, but there was an 8-point uptick in those saying the border should be the No. 1 priority.
"Immigration is fast becoming the paradigmatic example of government's incompetence," said Republican pollster Daron Shaw who conducted the poll with Democrat Chris Anderson. "There is no coherent policy to secure the border, and neither is there any immediate prospect for dealing with millions of undocumented workers in the U.S.
"The images from the southern border are both heartbreaking and appalling."
The solutions, according to the poll:
- 79% favor increasing the number of border agents.
- 67% favor deporting illegal immigrants.
- 64% favor penalizing business that knowingly hire illegal immigrants.
- 63% favor allowing illegals to stay and apply for legal status.
- 58% favor using the U.S. military at the border.
- 54% favor building a wall.
Those solutions have some partisan divides:
- 80% of Democrats favor allowing illegals to apply for legal status, compared to just 40% of Republicans.
- 82% of Republicans favor sending troops to the border, compared to 36% of Democrats.
- 88% of Republicans favor building the wall, compared to 25% of Democrats.
- 89% of Republicans favor deporting illegals, compared to 48% of Democrats.
While Democrats (27%) are in agreement with Republicans (40%) as the economy as the No. 1 issue, just 5% of Democrats said immigration is the No. 1 issue, ranking it behind guns (16%), climate change (13%), voting rights (12%), and abortion (10%).
None of those liberal priorities rate even close to the economy (40%) or immigration (35%) for Republicans. They are all in low single digits.
The poll comes as House Republicans seek to tie border funding to foreign funding for Ukraine and Israel.
"If this gambit by Republicans doesn't work, Congress will be moving Ukraine funding into the same category as border security — something Americans want, but that Congress won't deliver," Anderson wrote in a statement.
Democrat pollster Beacon Research and Republican pollster Shaw & Company Research surveyed 1,007 registered voters nationwide and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.