Somewhat more Americans prefer for legal immigration to be reduced than increased, but when it comes to people who are already in the country illegally, slightly more Americans are in favor of letting them stay than requiring them to leave. A new proposal to dramatically increase vetting procedures for tourists receives more opposition than support.
What you need to know about Americans' views on immigration, as of the December 12 - 15, 2025 Economist / YouGov Poll:
- Americans are divided on changes they would like to see regarding the number of legal immigrants accepted into the U.S. each year, though more would prefer for immigration to decrease than increase. 12% of Americans want the number of legal immigrants to be reduced to zero, 26% would like it to be decreased, 25% want no changes, and 18% want it to be increased
- A majority (65%) of Republicans want legal immigration to be either decreased or reduced to zero
- There is less consensus among Democrats, though a larger share would like immigration to be increased than decreased or stopped entirely (28% vs. 17%)
- 43% of Americans say that illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. and eventually apply for citizenship, while 39% say they should be required to leave the U.S.; 5% say they should be allowed to stay, but not become citizens
- Only 15% of Americans say they have a great deal of confidence in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); 19% have quite a lot of confidence in ICE, 21% have some, and 45% have very little
- The vast majority of Democrats (79%) have very little confidence in ICE; most Republicans have either a great deal of confidence in ICE (31%) or quite a lot (38%)
- Americans are more likely to strongly or somewhat oppose than support (48% vs. 32%) a proposal to require tourists to the U.S. to disclose any social media activity, telephone numbers, or email addresses going back 5 years or more, as well as face, fingerprint, DNA, and iris biometrics
- Roughly two-thirds (66%) of Democrats and half (51%) of Independents oppose these requirements for tourists; Republicans are nearly twice as likely to support as oppose them (51% vs. 27%)
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