WASHINGTON (AP) — More Americans say immigration should be a U.S. government priority in 2025, as the country heads toward a new Republican administration in which President-elect Donald Trump has promised mass deportations of migrants and the end of birthright citizenship. .
About half of American adults cited topics related to immigration and borders in an open-ended question that asked respondents to share up to five topics they want the government to work on this year, according to a December poll from the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs. Research. That’s up from about a third who mentioned the topic as a government priority in an AP-NORC poll conducted the previous year.
The issue of immigration has grown in importance across the board – among Democrats and Republicans, men and women, and adults young and old. But Republicans, in particular, have converged on this issue in recent years. About 7 in 10 Republicans say immigration or building a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border should be a priority, up from 45% just two years ago.
That means Trump will return to the White House with his base, and much of the country, interested in his signature. This contrasts sharply with his departure from Washington four years ago with his successor, Democrat Joe Biden, who adopted a more welcoming attitude towards migrants.
But even with widespread concerns about immigration, the issue remains overshadowed by economic concerns. About three-quarters of Americans want the government to focus on addressing major economic concerns, as it has in recent years. There are a range of economic issues Americans want to address: About 3 in 10 referenced general economic issues, a similar share mentioned inflation, and about 1 in 10 mentioned unemployment or taxes.
About a third of Americans consider foreign policy an important issue, followed closely by health and politics issues – both broadly identified.
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Trump won back the White House thanks to immigration playing a key role in his campaign, often disparaging migrants in the United States and claiming they commit violent crimes, although studies have shown no link between immigration and crime.
Some of his immigration reforms are likely to face legal challenges as Trump seeks to sharply limit the number of immigrants welcomed into the United States. But addressing these issues remains paramount for Americans as he prepares to take office.
About 8 in 10 Republicans want the government to prioritize economic issues, while about 7 in 10 Republicans say immigration or the border wall should be a top priority.
Most Democrats, meanwhile, are focused on the economy, but lack a clear second priority. Instead, about 4 in 10 cite health care and health concerns, a slight increase from the previous year. About a third of Democrats mention political issues, the environment, climate change or immigration.
But even Democrats are more likely to want the government to make progress on immigration than last year, when only about 2 in 10 Democrats said it should be a federal government priority.
That doesn’t mean they align with Trump’s hard-line approach, however. One Democrat said the government should focus on “border control, not mass deportations,” while another said “better pathways to citizenship” should be the goal. In their survey responses, Republicans tended to mention “illegal immigration” and “a stronger border” as important priorities. One Republican supported “closing the borders, deporting illegal immigrants, starting with criminals.”
The Republican focus on immigration and the economy dovetails with two of the biggest challenges Biden has faced during his term, which has been marked by high inflation and strong migration growth.
Illegal border crossings hit a record high in 2023, fueling Trump’s relentless focus on border security and his promise to expel migrants en masse. The numbers fell in 2024 after Biden announced a crackdown on asylum applications, but Trump argued those measures were too little, too late.
Younger adults are especially likely to want the government to work on economic issues.
Americans under 30 are significantly more likely than older adults to cite economic issues, inflation, and personal financial issues as a vital government priority in 2025. About 4 in 10 young adults cite inflation, compared to about a quarter of older adults. And about a quarter of young adults say they want the government to focus on housing costs, while about 1 in 10 adults aged 60 or older say the same.
Trump made gains among young adults in 2024 compared to his performance four years earlier, but his youngest voters were far more motivated by the economy than by immigration, according to AP VoteCast, a broad survey of more than 120,000 voters.
The same sentiment prevails as Trump prepares to take office. Compared to 2023, according to the December poll, Americans under 30 are more likely to highlight general economic issues and immigration as topics they want the government to focus on — but they are many less focused on immigration than older adults. Only about a third of adults under 30 said immigration should be a priority, compared with about 6 in 10 adults 60 or older.
Older Americans are also largely focused on the economy, but their priorities are a little different: For example, about 1 in 10 Americans over 60 want the government to focus on Social Security during the year future. Very few Americans under 30 mentioned Social Security as a concern.
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Lodhi reported from New York and Cooper from Phoenix.
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The AP-NORC poll of 1,251 adults was conducted December 5-9, 2024, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak panel, designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for all adults is plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.
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