More Americans say immigration a top priority: Survey

Nearly half of Americans said that immigration should be a top priority for President-elect Trump to tackle in 2025, according to a new survey released on Tuesday. 

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research survey found that 47 percent of Americans said immigration should be the top issue for the next White House to handle, a topic that Trump heavily campaigned on during his successful 2024 White House run. The figure represents a 12-point jump from December 2023 when it polled around 35 percent. 

Foreign policy was ranked second among respondents with 35 percent, a slight downturn from December 2023 when it was hovering around 38 percent, according to the survey. The economy was in third spot with 30 percent while inflation specifically stood at 29 percent. 

Immigration was the main area of concern across the political spectrum. It rose to 69 percent among Republicans, spiking by 14 points since last year. Among independents, the issue polled at 41 percent while it was the second most pressing issue for Democrats at 32 percent, just 4 points behind climate change, according to the survey. 

The poll numbers showcase that the majority of the country is interested in the topic that has long been a staple of Trump’s campaign pitch. 

The survey found that GOP voters are more confident than Democrats in the new administration's ability to make progress on the most important issue facing the U.S. Around 69 percent of Republicans said they are either “very” or "moderately” confident in the federal government’s capacity to address the issues at hand in 2025, a significantly higher number than just 15 percent of Democrats who said the same. 

The poll was conducted from Dec. 5-9, 2024 among 1,251 adults. The margin of error was 3.7 percentage points.