February 2024 - Immigration Concerns Continue

Harvard Harris Poll Debrief with Mark Penn and Bob Cusack

Here are the findings of the February Harvard CAPS / Harris poll, which was released together with The Hill today. The poll was conducted February 21-22, 2024, among 2,022 registered voters by HarrisX and The Harris Poll.

President Joe Biden’s overall approval rating rose to 45% while his immigration approval remained at 35%, his lowest on any issue. Immigration and inflation are the top two issues for voters for the second month in a row.

Stay tuned for the next Harvard CAPS / Harris poll podcast debrief at https://www.markpennpolls.com/ or other podcast platforms.

Other key findings include:

IMMIGRATION CONCERNS CONTINUE TO BE FRONT AND CENTER

• Voters say Biden’s biggest failure was creating an open borders policy and a historic flood of immigrants. (Voters say Biden’s biggest accomplishment was lowering the cost of prescription drugs.)
• 62% of voters support impeaching Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, including 48% of Democrats.
• 55% of voters supported Trump’s calls to stop the Senate’s compromise immigration bill, which would have allowed 5000 migrants to enter per day until new measures kicked in.

INFLATION LOOKS STICKY TO VOTERS

• 71% of voters think price increases and inflation have proven to be sticky and are here to stay – including 58% of Democrats and 87% of Republicans.
• 45% of voters say their personal financial situation is getting worse – down from 64% in summer 2022.
• 42% say inflation is the most important issue to them personally, up 4 points from January.

VOTERS ARE CONCERNED BY SPECIAL COUNSEL REPORT ON BIDEN’S AGE AND MEMORY ISSUES

• 59% of voters say age and memory lapses are inadequate justification for Special Counsel Robert Hur not pursuing criminal charges in the classified documents case.
• 76% of voters, including 64% of Democrats, want the transcript of Hur’s interview with Biden to be released publicly.
• 71% of voters, including 50% of Democrats, would consider it an impeachable offense if it were true that Biden worked with his son and brother to help bring in multimillion-dollar fees from China, Russia and Ukraine while he was vice president.

TRUMP KEEPS LEAD DESPITE LEGAL CHALLENGES

• Trump beats Biden by 6 points in the head-to-head matchup.
• 57% of voters say they approve of the job Trump did as president.
• 54% think the New York judge’s recent ruling that Trump defrauded state banks was fair.

ISRAEL SUPPORT REMAINS STRONG

• 82% of voters support Israel over Hamas (with 72% support among 18-24-year-olds, their highest percentage to date).
• 63% of voters support Israel continuing its ground invasion into Southern Gaza to root out the final elements of Hamas.

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