Even now, immigrants still feel welcome

It may feel like an anti-immigrant moment in the US as masked ICE agents sweep American streets and workplaces for people who entered illegally or otherwise lack full legal resident status. President Trump’s most popular issue remains his get-tough immigration policy.

But immigrants themselves didn’t get the memo. In a recent Gallup World Poll, the US leads the world in the share of immigrants – 96 percent of them – rating their new community as a good place for immigrants to live. That number is a bit higher than it was 20 years ago at 93 percent.  And it is solidly ahead of the field of nations that are next-most-welcoming – Oman, UAE, and Canada – at 91 percent.

The US also has the widest gap of any advanced economy between how welcome immigrants say they feel and how welcoming native-born Americans think their community is — 96 percent versus 81 percent, a 15-point spread that Gallup found in no other OECD country.  But that 81 percent still represents an overwhelming majority of natives who see their town or city as a welcoming place for non-natives.

Overall, Gallup found that over the past 20 years, the world has become more welcoming of immigrants, racial and ethnic minorities, and gay and lesbian people.

The researchers noted that those most likely to rate their communities highly for these groups also tend to feel most positively about their own lives –  to be satisfied with their local area, to have people they can count on for help, to feel safe walking alone at night, and to be satisfied with their freedom to choose what they do in life.

Source: “Gallup World Poll at 20”