Public opinion polls conducted in October indicate a change in one of the political parties, which may make Donald Trump’s election scheduled for November 5 less surprising. Most parties now subscribe to the view on immigration that was previously associated with organized hatred, that they are “poisoning the blood of the country.”
Although respondents were first asked this question in October, responses from others indicated a forceful shift toward immigrants by Republicans and white evangelical Protestants — especially after Trump became president.
The Public Religion Research Institute is a nonpartisan group that studies political issues alongside religious values. It has been operating since its establishment in 2013 American Values Survey and conducted over 200,000 interviews during this time.
Among the latest findings was a 50-point difference between Republicans and Democrats on how urgent the issue of immigration is for the country. Currently, there is great disagreement between the parties on whether undocumented immigrants who meet certain criteria should be offered a path to citizenship.
In 2013, 71% of Democrats and 64% of independents believed a path to citizenship should be offered. The percentage for Democrats rose to 77% in October, while for independents it fell to 55%.
But for Republicans, the change was much more dramatic.
In 2013, a majority of Republicans – 53% – believed that a path to citizenship should be provided to eligible people. As of October, only 36% had done so.
At a recent conference in Washington, D.C., founder and CEO of the Institute for the Study of Public Religion, Robert P. Jones, said that support for the path was mostly steady for Republicans from 2013 to 2019, “then it starts to decline, and then it just dropped from cliffhanger beginning of last year.”
Jones said the differences between the parties indicate we have entered a up-to-date era when it comes to immigration policy.
“It’s a completely different world than it was 10 years ago,” he said.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the difference is religious.
White evangelical Protestants are the only major religious group that does not have a majority supporting a path to citizenship. This support has fallen from 53% in 2013 to 40% today.
A survey by the Institute for the Study of Public Religion found an element of hatred among some in the opposition towards allowing more undocumented immigrants to become citizens.
“There were a lot of questions that I had to ask as a sociologist that I never thought I would have to ask,” Jones said of the latest study.
One reason was Trump’s statement a year ago that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” This statement has ominous implications because Adolf Hitler, who murdered 6 million Jews along with millions of other target groupspresented several versions of this statement, including that the Jew “poisons the blood of others…”
In the survey, Jones asked: “Do you agree or not that the immigrants who come into the country today are poisoning the blood of our country?”
As many as 34% of Americans agree with this.
“There is a gigantic gap between the parties on this issue,” Jones said.
Nearly two-thirds of Republicans – 61% – 33% of independents and just 13% of Democrats agreed that immigrants poison the blood a nation of immigrants.
Jones, who holds a Ph.D. in religion, said so many Americans agree that such a statement should apply to everyone.
“The racist and hateful concept of immigrants has really taken hold among a significant minority of the population,” he said.
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