Rasmussen Poll: 58 Percent Say Border a ‘Catastrophe’

Only 30% of likely U.S. voters say President Joe Biden is doing a good or excellent job handling issues related to immigration, while 52% rate his performance as poor, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone and online survey.

There is a partisan divide on the issue of Biden’s handling of immigration, with 53% of Democrats saying he’s is doing a good or excellent job, but only 14% of Republicans and 18% of unaffiliated voters sharing that opinion; 79% of Republicans, 18% of Democrats, and 63% of unaffiliated voters give Biden a poor rating on the immigration issue.

On handling immigration, 50% of voters say they trust Republicans more, 38% trust Democrats more, and 11% are undecided. 

Among Republican voters, 88% trust their own party more to handle immigration, while 80% of Democrats have greater trust in their own party on the issue. Among unaffiliated voters, 54% trust Republicans more, while 23% trust Democrats to handle immigration.

Of the self-identified conservative voters, 78% say they trust Republicans more to handle immigration, while 82% of liberals say they trust Democrats more on the issue. Among moderate voters, 44% trust Republicans more and 38% put their trust in Democrats to handle immigration.

Along racial lines, 27% of whites, 38% of Black voters, and 32% of other minorities give Biden a good or excellent rating on his handling of immigration. Republicans are trusted more to handle immigration, with 54% of whites, 32% of Black voters, and 51% of other minorities trusting the GOP more to handle immigration.

There is a slight gender divide, with men (57%) more likely than women voters (45%) to say they trust Republicans on the immigration issue.

Voters under 40 are more likely than their elders to say they trust Democrats more to handle immigration.

Breaking down the electorate by income categories, voters in the highest bracket — earning more than $200,000 a year — are most likely to say they trust Democrats more to handle immigration.

Earlier this month, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., said: “Since his first day in office, President Biden has worked to systematically undermine America’s border security. … The result is a humanitarian and national security catastrophe.” 

In the Rasmussen survey, 58% of voters said they agree with that statement, including 44% who strongly agree, and 37% disagree with the quote from Johnson, including 25% who strongly disagree. Another 11% are not sure.

A full 85% of Republicans, 42% of Democrats, and 59% of unaffiliated voters at least somewhat agree with Speaker Johnson’s quote about Biden’s policy as a “catastrophe” for border security.

Men are significantly more likely than women to say they strongly agree with Johnson’s statement that Biden’s policy has produced a “catastrophe” at the border.

The survey of 935 U.S. likely voters was conducted Jan.15-17 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is plus/minus 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC.