Democrats are more receptive to having migrants in their towns, but only if there is room and they generally do not believe there is — while Republicans are more consistent against sanctuary cities — according to the latest CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday.
A combined 93% say the southern border is at least a "somewhat serious problem," and while slight majority (52%) would "favor" a sanctuary city policy in their city, a large majority (63%) say there is no space in their area, according to the poll.
Most respondents (53%) say their town or city has enough people already, compared to just 16% who say they need more. There are nearly twice as many as the latter in saying there are too many people and their area is already too "crowded" (30%).
"Democrats, including those in both cities and suburbs, are overwhelmingly receptive to the idea of temporarily accepting migrants in their locales," according to CBS News analysis. "But the principle often collides with the practical: they're not always sure there's space.
"The number of Americans who think there is room in their town — in the form of facilities or public housing — is lower than the number willing to accept people."
Support for entirely open borders has very limited support in the poll. Just 9% want anyone able to cross the southern border, while a large majority (795) want restrictions on border crossings to be "only people who meet an approved U.S. criteria can cross."
Just 11% want the border completely closed to all crossers.
The Biden administration's policies are rejected by the respondents as 58% want it to be "tougher on immigrants trying to cross at the border" and only 22% say the administration is "handling things" appropriately.
An overwhelming majority (63%) disapprove of Biden's handling of the border, compared to just 37% approval. A plurality of U.S. adults (38%) consider the border "a crisis," trumping a "very serious problem" (33%) and a "somewhat serious problem" (22%). Just 7% say the southern border is "not much of a problem."
YouGov conducted the CBS News poll among 2,188 U.S. adults May 17-19, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.0 percentage points.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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