Biden approval on immigration drops 8 points since last month: poll

President Biden’s approval rating on immigration dropped 8 points since last month, new polling shows.

Just 38 percent of registered voters in a new Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll, shared with The Hill, said they approved of Biden’s handling of immigration this month, down from 46 percent who said the same in November. 

“Based on the polling on immigration, this is one of the key issues dragging down the president’s reputation, and he needs to make progress on this issue or face increasing consequences,” said Mark Penn, chairman of the Harvard CAPS-Harris poll.

But as Biden sees a drop in approval on the topic, voters also rank immigration among the most important problems facing the country. 

Nearly 1 in 3 voters picked immigration as one of the nation’s top issues. It came in second only to price increases and inflation, which a third of voters named as a main problem. 

Two-thirds said they think the number of monthly border crossings by illegal immigrants has increased since Biden took office — and 70 percent of voters, including 55 percent of Democrats, said they think the administration should impose “new, stricter” policies to reduce the flow of people into the country.

Immigrant advocates are reportedly upset with the president for linking Ukraine funding and border policy as he looks for billions from Congress.

Nearly 6 in 10 voters in the poll said former President Trump has better policies on immigration than Biden. Notably, 80 percent of Democrats favored the president’s policies, and 93 percent of Republicans favored Trump’s.

Biden is running for reelection next year against Trump, whose rhetoric on immigration has come under renewed fire after he claimed over the weekend that migrants were “poisoning the blood of our country.”

The president’s approval rating also saw a downtick in several other issues over the last month — including a 3 point drop each for his handling of foreign affairs and his work stimulating jobs. Those figures fell to 41 percent and 47 percent, respectively. 

His lowest approval was on immigration and his handling of inflation, at 38 and 39 percent.

The poll was conducted Dec. 13-14 among 2,034 registered voters. It is a collaboration of the Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University and the Harris Poll.