Most Americans continue to support the idea of building a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border, and lean strongly toward supporting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in his dispute with President Joe Biden's White House over the measures being taken to slow border crossings, a new I&I/TIPP Poll shows.
Out of the 1,402 registered voters polled from Jan. 31-Feb. 2, 59% overall said they either strongly or somewhat support wall construction, with 32% opposing the idea, according to Issues and Insights on Tuesday.
The responses showed a political divide among the parties, but solid agreement among minority voters:
- Democrats: 43% for a wall; 47% against
- Republicans: 85% for the wall; 11% against
- Independents: 51% for; 37% against
- Black voters: 52% for; 34% against
- Hispanic voters: 54% for; 37% against
Meanwhile, most of those surveyed said they would oppose Biden nationalizing the Texas National Guard to stop the state from building a border fence, with 50% saying they would oppose the move, compared to 38% approving.
Democrats said they would support a takeover by 61% to 23%, with Republicans opposing the move by 78% to 16%. Independents also said they would oppose a Biden move (49%-33%).
Americans are also growing concerned (49%-38%) over whether the widening differences between the White House and Texas could become an open conflict.
The polling revealed a split between Democrats and Republicans, with 54% of Democrats and 55% of Republicans feeling concerned, versus 34% of Democrats saying they are not worried compared to 36% of Republicans.
The poll carried a margin of error of plus or minus 2.7 percentage points.