Voters to Mexico: Stop Illegal Immigrants or Lose U.S. Aid
Wednesday, January 07, 2015
Most U.S. voters think the Mexican government doesn’t do enough to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking and favor stopping foreign aid to our southern neighbor until it does more to prevent illegal border crossings.
Just 14% of Likely U.S. Voters think the Mexican government wants to stop its citizens from illegally entering the United States, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifty-five percent (55%) say Mexico is not interested in stopping illegal immigration. But 31% are not sure.
These findings have changed little over the past two years. In May 2010, however, just 13% thought Mexico wanted to stop illegal immigration, but 67% disagreed.
U.S. taxpayers gave Mexico $265 million in foreign aid in 2013, the most recent year figures are available for, and 53% of voters in this country think that aid should end until the Mexican government does more to stop Mexicans and others from illegally crossing the U.S. southern border. Only 31% disagree, but 16% are undecided.
Just 10% of voters believe the Mexican government has been aggressive enough in its effort to stop illegal drug traffickers. Seventy-four percent (74%) say Mexico has not been aggressive enough in fighting this problem, up nine points from 65% in February of last year. Seventeen percent (17%) are not sure.
A plurality (44%) says government corruption in Mexico is most to blame for the drug violence in that country. Twenty-four percent (24%) blame Mexican drug producers, while 21% think the violence is primarily due to drug users in the United States. Four percent (4%) say something else is chiefly to blame.
The national survey of 800 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on January 5-6, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
At a White House meeting yesterday, Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto promised to assist President Obama’s plan to protect up to five million illegal immigrants in this country from deportation. In May 2012, 54% of U.S. voters wanted to demand compensation from Mexico to offset the cost to taxpayers in this country from illegal immigration.
Thirty percent (30%) of voters in this country regard Mexico as a U.S. ally, while just seven percent (7%) consider it an enemy. Fifty-four percent (54%) rate Mexico as somewhere in between the two. This is a more critical assessment than Americans expressed a year ago.
Most Republicans and most voters not affiliated with either major party believe the Mexican government does not want to stop illegal immigration and favor cutting U.S. aid until it does more to stop this traffic. Democrats are far more undecided about the Mexican government, and a plurality opposes a cut-off in aid.
But most voters in all three groups agree that the Mexican government has not been aggressive enough in trying to stop illegal drug traffickers. They also tend to blame government corruption in Mexico for the drug violence there.
Voters who are critical of the Mexican government’s immigration and anti-drug efforts are far less likely to consider the country an ally of the United States.
Nearly half (48%) of all voters think Congress should try to find ways to stop the president’s plan to allow several million illegal immigrants to stay in this country legally and apply for jobs. Fifty-seven percent (57%) think the federal government should only do what the president and Congress agree on when it comes to immigration.
Most voters have said for years that stopping illegal immigration is more important than putting those already here illegally on the path to citizenship.
An overwhelming majority of Americans still believe the United States is losing the war on drugs, but they are more divided over whether money is the answer.
Sixty-four percent (64%) of voters favor the use of the U.S. military to protect American citizens if drug violence escalates along the Mexican border.
Additional information from this survey and a full demographic breakdown are available to Platinum Members only.
The national survey of 800 Likely U.S. Voters was conducted on January 5-6, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.
Rasmussen Reports is a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion information.
We conduct public opinion polls on a variety of topics to inform our audience on events in the news and other topics of interest. To ensure editorial control and independence, we pay for the polls ourselves and generate revenue through the sale of subscriptions, sponsorships, and advertising. Nightly polling on politics, business and lifestyle topics provides the content to update the Rasmussen Reports web site many times each day. If it’s in the news, it’s in our polls. Additionally, the data drives a daily update newsletter and various media outlets across the country.
Some information, including the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll and commentaries are available for free to the general public. Subscriptions are available for $3.95 a month or 34.95 a year that provide subscribers with exclusive access to more than 20 stories per week on upcoming elections, consumer confidence, and issues that affect us all. For those who are really into the numbers, Platinum Members can review demographic crosstabs and a full history of our data.
To learn more about our methodology, click here.