Growing majority of Americans supports allowing Central American refugees into U.S.

by Laura Clawson

Daily Kos Staff

Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019 Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2019 at 7:21:40am PDT

WASHINGTON, DC - FEBRUARY 11: Honduran asylum seeker Sandra Sanchez holds her daughter Yanela Sanchez, 2 1/2, in their basement apartment on February 11, 2019 in the greater Washington D.C. area. Photographs of Yanela crying as she and her mother were taken into custody at the U.S.-Mexico border on June 12, 2018 were widely published during the Trump administrationâ€™s â€œzero-toleranceâ€ immigration policy. Sandra Sanchez said that she and Yanela were initially held by U.S. immigration authorities for 18 days in three separate Texas detention facilities before being released pending an immigration court date. They have yet to receive a first hearing. Without a work permit, Sanchez cannot seek legal employment and is unable to afford an attorney to advocate for her and her daughter. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

Support for allowing Central American refugees into the U.S. has grown from 51% in December to 57% in a July Gallup poll, even as Donald Trump continues to try to turn his cruelty toward asylum-seekers to his electoral benefit.

Much of the growth in support came from Republicans, rising from the rock-bottom level of 14% to 24%. Independent support grew from 52% to 58%, while support from Democrats edged up slightly from 82% to 85%. This growth comes despite Trump’s best efforts to appeal to voters’ worst impulses. Maybe most Americans don’t like seeing their government inflict suffering on vulnerable people?

According to 39% of those polled, the border situation is a crisis, while another 35% called it a major problem. That level of intensity combined with majority—and growing—support for letting refugees into the U.S. suggests that this may not be the big winning issue Trump has counted on it being.