User:Mckennahf/sandbox

Outline for Article Improvement
The claims made at the end of the section are vague and generalized, without statistics that explain the claims being made:

"One of the most important factors regarding public opinion about immigration is the level of unemployment; anti-immigrant sentiment is where unemployment is highest, and vice versa.[275]

"Surveys indicate that the U.S. public consistently makes a sharp distinction between legal and illegal immigrants, and generally views those perceived as "playing by the rules" with more sympathy than immigrants that have entered the country illegally.[276]

The surveys described are out of order, not listing the opinions chronologically, I plan to reorder these in order to improve comprehension.

Using the new surveys from my bibliography, I plan to add information that is more recent, listing surveys that continue into the present- day opinions about immigration to the U.S.

Final Draft
According to a Gallup poll in July of 2015, immigration is the fourth most important problem facing the United States and seven percent of Americans said it was the most important problem. In March of 2015, another Gallup poll provided insight into American public opinion on immigration; the poll revealed that 39% of people worried about immigration “a great deal.” A January poll showed that only 33% of Americans were satisfied with the current state of immigration in America. As an issue that is very important to Americans, polling reveals change in sentiment over time and diverse opinions regarding how to handle immigration.

Before 2012, majority of Americans supported securing United States borders compared to dealing with illegal immigrants in the United States. In 2013, that trend has reversed and 55% of people polled by Gallup revealed that they would choose “developing a plan to deal with immigrants who are currently in the U.S. illegally.” Changes regarding border control are consistent across party lines, with Republicans saying that “securing U.S borders to halt flow of illegal immigrants” is extremely important decreasing from 68% in 2011 to 56% in 2014. Meanwhile, Democrats who chose extremely important shifted from 42% in 2011 to 31% in 2014. In July of 2013, 87% of Americans said they would vote in support of a law that would “allow immigrants already in the country to become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements including paying taxes, having a criminal background check and learning English.” However, in the same survey, 83% also said they would support the tightening of U.S. border security.

Donald Trump’s campaign for Presidency focused on a rhetoric of reducing illegal immigration and toughening border security. In July of 2015, 48% of Americans thought that Donald Trump would do a poor job of handling immigration problems. In November of 2016, 55% of Trump’s voters thought that he would do the right thing in regards to illegal immigration. In general Trump supporters are not united upon how to handle immigration. In December of 2016, Trump voters were polled and 60% said that “undocumented immigrants in the U.S. who meet certain requirements should be allowed to stay legally.”

American opinion regarding how immigrants affect our country and how the government should respond to illegal immigration have changed over time. In 2006, out of all U.S. adults surveyed, 28% declared that they believed the growing number of immigrants helped American workers and 55% believed that it hurt American workers. In 2016, those views had changed, with 42% believing that they helped and 45% believing that they hurt. The PRRI 2015 American Values Atlas showed that between 46% and 53% of Americans believed that “the growing number of newcomers from other countries… strengthens American society.” In the same year, 57% and 66% of Americans chose that the U.S should “allow [immigrants living in the U.S. illegally] a way to become citizens provided they meet certain requirements.”

In February of 2017, the American Enterprise Institute released a report on recent surveys about immigration issues. In July of 2016, 63% of Americans favored the temporary bans of immigrants from areas with high levels of terrorism and 53% said the U.S. should allow fewer refugees to enter the country. In November of 2016, 55% of Americans were opposed to building a border wall with Mexico. Since 1994, Pew Research center has tracked a change from 63% of Americans saying that immigrants are a burden on the country to 27%.