By a more than 2-to-1 margin, Montanans say they want legal immigration -- that has been averaging around one million a year -- reduced to a half-million or less. That is the preference of nearly all demographic groups, including Montana’s Democrats, Republicans, Independents, Catholics, Evangelicals, Protestants and those of other religions and no religion, residents of major cities, suburbs, and rural areas, according to a survey conducted by Pulse Opinion Research of 800 Montanans likely to vote in next year's midterm congressional elections.
The results suggest that support from Montanans across the political spectrum for cutting immigration likely had an impact on President Trump winning the state in 2016 and that support for less immigration would likely continue to be reflected at the polls in 2018.
Montanans would achieve the 50% reduction by ending "Chain Migration" and the "Visa Lottery":
- 63% of Montanans support ending “Chain Migration”--- eliminating the extended-family categories and limiting family-based immigration to spouses and minor children. 56% of Montanans also support ending the “Visa Lottery” that randomly gives out lifetime work permits to foreign citizens.
- Even if it causes prices to rise, 67% of Montanans favor employers paying higher wages to attract American workers over the government continuing to automatically give out around a million lifetime work permits to new immigrants each year.
- 72% of Montanans say that rather than providing businesses with so many foreign workers each year, businesses should be "required" to try harder to recruit Americans facing high poverty and unemployment rates, including Black and Hispanic Americans, and younger Americans of all ethnicities without a college degree.
View the polls results here.
