34% of the population shares Trump’s opinion that migrants are ‘poisoning the blood of America’

The anti-immigrant rhetoric that has pervaded the electoral campaign is having an effect on part of the population, and opinions that previously seemed unthinkable are now being publicly admitted without any shame. If Donald Trump’s statement in September of last year that undocumented migrants are “poisoning the blood of the country” set off alarm bells among human rights groups and the majority of the population, even more worrying is the fact that a third of Americans agree with that assertion, which is more typical of a Nazi regime than of the country that is the standard-bearer of freedom and rights.

Yet that is what the 15th Annual American Values Survey, conducted by the Brookings Institution and the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI), has revealed. It shows that 34% of the population believes that immigrants entering the country illegally today are “poisoning the blood of our country.” “In all these years of collaboration, there are a number of questions that I, as a social scientist, never thought I would write, and this is one of them,” admitted Robert P. Jones, president and founder of PRRI. “It is a kind of classic case of asymmetric polarization. Republicans are much more out of touch with the general population than Democrats,” he explains. Six out of 10 Republicans (61%), 30% of independents and 13% of Democrats support the statement that Trump has included in several of his campaign speeches.

“This is one of the scariest things you’ve ever heard a presidential candidate say. I was actually surprised that 23% of Jewish respondents agreed with that, because it’s a Nazi phrase (…) This should scare everyone,” said Joy Reid, a political commentator.

The poll is one of the largest ever conducted, with 5,000 citizens questioned between August 16 and September 4 and with a margin of error of 1.82 points. Although it focuses on the state of democracy, the questions about immigration have had the greatest impact. “I was surprised to find that the country is turning so dramatically to the right on immigration,” acknowledged A.B. Stoddard, a columnist for The Bulwark at the presentation of the survey.

This is confirmed by the fact that for the first time since the question was asked in 2018, support for undocumented migrants who arrived as children, the so-called Dreamers, has fallen. A small majority of Americans (52%) are in favor of allowing them to obtain legal resident status (six years ago it was 62%), while 44% are opposed to this. Among Republicans, 77% are against it.

Offering a path to citizenship for undocumented migrants is the most polarizing issue in recent years. The gap between the Republican and Democratic parties has more than doubled in the past decade, from 18 percentage points in 2013 to 41 percentage points in 2024.

Support for building a wall on the border has also grown, and a majority of respondents believe that immigrants are burdening social services in local communities.

One of the most contentious issues regarding immigration is the mass deportation that the Republican candidate has promised. Americans are divided on whether they are in favor (47%) or against (50%) arresting and deporting immigrants who are in the country illegally, even if it means setting up camps guarded by the military. Nearly eight in ten Republicans (79%) are in favor of militarized camps.

Power by force

The poll examines attitudes about the 2024 presidential race, the health of our democracy and support for political violence. This question only came to the fore in 2021 in the wake of the Capitol insurrection and is “a question we didn’t think we would have to ask,” Jones acknowledges. Despite all the court rulings that have denied it, 62% of Republicans believe that the 2020 election was stolen. Likewise, almost half of those who support the conservative party believe that the people who have been convicted by a court of law for their role in the violent attacks of January 6 are actually patriots who are being held hostage by the government, another narrative that Trump has made sure to spread.

The idea of a repeat of the scenes that the entire world witnessed on that fateful day worries many, but others believe it may be necessary. Eighteen percent of Americans agree that “true American patriots may have to resort to violence to save the country.” The gap is wide between Republicans (28%) and Democrats (8%). In addition, 22 percent of Republicans and 12 percent of Democrats support ordinary citizens using force to place the winning candidate in the presidency if there is electoral fraud, even if violence is required.

The American public is evenly divided on whether there is a real danger that Trump will use the presidency to become a dictator (49% agree to 48% disagree), but among Democrats, the belief is overwhelmingly held (88%).

The survey found that support for political violence was highest among those who followed conservative media outlets (41%), including Fox News. “We have a media problem and some of the media are leading people towards fascism,” Reid said.

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