Joe Biden Faces Growing Democrat Fury Over Border Crisis

A sizable majority of Democratic voters believes the Biden administration is doing a bad job of handling illegal immigration over the U.S.-Mexican border, according to a new Pew Research Center poll.

The survey found 49 percent of Democratic or Democratic-leaning voters think the government is doing a "somewhat bad" job of "dealing with the large number of migrants seeking to enter the U.S. at the border with Mexico," with another 23 percent answering "very bad." When adjusted for rounding, and once the undecideds have been removed, this gives a total of 73 percent who have a negative view of how the border crisis is being handled.

By contrast just 23 percent of Democratic-leaning voters think the administration is doing a "somewhat good" job of handling migration over the southern border, with another three percent for "very good." Pew Research Center surveyed 5,140 U.S. adults between January 16 and 21.

Illegal immigration over the southern border has become a highly contentious issue with border protection officers making 124,220 arrests in January, though this was down substantially on the record high of 249,735 recorded in December. Donald Trump, the firm favorite for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, has made illegal immigration one of his chief election issues.

The proportion of Democrats who think the Biden administration is handling the border situation badly is a substantial increase on previous years. In 2023 Pew Research Center polling found 62 percent of Democrat voters had a negative view of the issue's handling, versus 35 percent who approved. In 2021 the pollster found 56 percent of Democrats disapproved of President Joe Biden's handling of the southern border, against 42 percent who were supportive.

This makes 2024 the worst Pew Research Center poll of Democrats on the government's handling of the southern border since 2019, during the Trump administration. Then 84 percent thought the administration was doing a poor job, including 58 percent who called their performance "very bad," against just 15 percent who approved.

The 2024 survey also found 89 percent of Republican or Republican-leaning voters think the Biden administration is doing a bad job over the southern border, versus just 11 percent who approve of its performance. Among Americans as a whole, 80 percent think the border situation is being handled badly against 18 percent who approve. These figures mark a sharp deterioration from 2023, when 73 percent disapproved and 23 percent approved, and 2021 in which 68 percent disapproved and 29 percent approved.

Newsweek reached out to the White House by email at 5:25 a.m. ET on Friday. This article will be updated with any comment.

In December, the Democratic mayors of New York, Chicago and Denver issued a joint plea for more federal support to handle the migrant influx into their cities, caused in part by Texas Governor Greg Abbott bussing immigrants out of his state to so-called 'sanctuary cities.' Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said: "All of our cities have reached a point where we are either close to capacity or nearly out of room."

Tensions over immigration surged again after the Supreme Court in January ruled federal agents can remove razor wire placed on the Texas-Mexico border on Abbott's orders. This sparked a furious response from Abbott who claimed Texas was facing an "invasion" and invoked its "constitutional authority to defend and protect itself."

A joint letter from 25 Republican governors backing Abbott's position was also published whilst Trump urged GOP governors to send National Guard troops to Texas to help secure the border.