Texans registered to vote approve of Gov. Greg Abbott’s handling of immigration at the border more than they approve of the way President Joe Biden handles the issue. But only 36% of those polled say Texas should spend more on a border wall.
A new Dallas Morning News and University of Texas at Tyler poll found that 47% of those surveyed approve of the Texas governor’s border immigration policies, while only 29% approve of Biden’s “handling of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border.”
The poll, conducted Sept. 7-14, surveyed 1,148 registered voters and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.9 percentage points. It surveyed Texas voters on a wide range of state and political issues.
Results generally leaned toward conservative views, but there is some nuance over issues like the border wall and a legalization program for younger immigrants brought to the U.S. as children.
“It might seem a paradox. But the public wants to see some decisive action but also some welcoming or compassion,” said Mark Owens, the UT-Tyler professor who directed the poll.
The results also reflect beliefs that “decisive action” is being taken on border immigration, said Owens.
Abbott’s policies have included sending state troopers and the Texas National Guard to the border, arresting migrants on state charges of property trespassing and spending an additional nearly $2 billion in border security. While almost half of responding registered voters approve of those policies, 41% of voter respondents say state funds should not be used to build a wall and 21% say the state has spent enough on such a barrier.
After Biden froze billions in spending on former President Donald Trump’s federally funded wall effort, Abbott cobbled together about $1 billion for border barriers.
Jennifer Jonsson, a Dallas paralegal for a civil law firm who responded to the poll, said, “It doesn’t matter what kind of wall you have. People will find a way under it and over it. I don’t see how a wall would provide safety. It sounds like more education is needed.”
Asked about Abbott’s handling of immigration, Jonsson, a Democrat, noted that, “It is not part of his official responsibility.” Immigration falls under federal jurisdiction.
Forty-eight percent said they strongly agree or somewhat agree that a “wall along the Texas-Mexico border is necessary for a safe border,” with 36% saying they disagree or strongly disagree.
Latinos are now nearly as large a population bloc in Texas as non-Latino whites at about 40 percent each. Latinos represent 26% of the registered voters, according to the poll’s director.
Felicia Manning, a pediatric nurse who responded to the poll and who is also Latina, said she favors Biden and his immigration policies and believes he isn’t going to “devote all the funds to the wall. I don’t agree with that and what Trump did, that was a huge waste of money.”
“We have Customs workers at the border so why? ... Their income is from federal funds. Why would we have to construct something better from a state fund?”
Manning, an Amarillo resident, emphasized she has traveled to the Rio Grande Valley many times and her family’s roots are in Mexico.
The poll found that 51% supported or strongly supported granting permanent legal status to immigrants brought here when they were children. Only 28% opposed or strongly opposed this.
Manning said she agrees with that position. “We are becoming a more multicultural society… Let’s just provide them a proper channel,” the nurse said.
The disapproval or strong disapproval of Biden’s immigration policies shrank some among Latino registered voters to 47%, compared to 62% of white voters disapproving of Biden on immigration.
For Republican Abbott and his handling of immigration at the U.S.-Mexico border, the governor’s disapproval rating was higher than his approval rating on immigration among both Latino and Black voters. Black voters disapprove or strongly disapprove by 59%, and Latinos disapprove or strongly disapprove by 41%. Overall, the governor had a 35% disapproval rating for his immigrant-border policies.
Poll respondent Julie Jones, a petroleum engineer in Midland, was firm in her support for the Republican governor. She said too many immigrants are coming across the southern border without proper documents.
“Yet we have law-abiding foreigners trying to get here,” she said. Her immigrant husband came from Venezuela lawfully in 2000, she said. But, Jones said, “his family is still suffering over there with socialism.” They would like to emigrate lawfully to the U.S., she said.
As for private funds for a border wall — 33% of poll respondents said they had donated — Jones said she supports that, too, and has given money.
Jim Lara, an electrical contractor in Canton who responded to the poll, said he was surprised the disapproval wasn’t higher for Biden’s immigration policies. “Now there seems to be no process” for immigration, Lara, a Republican, said.
Though Lara’s family traces its ancestry back to the border and to Mexico and the family has four generations in the U.S., he said he supports a border barrier. “I have traveled all over the world in Israel and like that,” he said. “I have seen where walls work and they are needed.”
Supporting permanent legal status for immigrants brought here as children? That gives Lara pause. “It is a hard situation because it wasn’t their choice. I don’t know what to do about it,” he said.
Methodology
The Dallas Morning News/UT-Tyler Poll is a statewide random sample of 1,148 registered voters conducted between Sept. 7-14. The mixed-mode sample includes 292 registered voters surveyed over the phone by the University of Texas-Tyler with support from ReconMR and 857 registered voters randomly selected from Dynata’s panel of online respondents. The margin of error is +/- 2.9 percentage points, and the more conservative margin of sampling error that includes design effects from this poll is +/- 3.7 percentage points for a 95% confidence interval. The online and phone surveys were conducted in English and Spanish. Using information from the 2020 Current Population Survey and the Texas Secretary of State, the sample’s gender, age, race/ethnicity, education, metropolitan density and vote choice were matched to the population of registered voters in Texas.
