A Strong Majority of Americans Support the U.S. Refugee Program, Especially When They Know Someone Who Is a Refugee
By Tenneth Fairclough II
Last September, President Biden announced that the U.S. will admit up to 125,000 refugees during the fiscal year of 2023. A Data for Progress survey of 1,133 likely voters in October 2022 examined whether voters believe that the U.S. should have a refugee program that helps bring some people seeking refuge to safety in the United States.
We find that more than two-thirds (70 percent) of likely voters — across demographic indicators such as race, political affiliation, education, and age — strongly believe that the U.S. should have a refugee resettlement program. But one group stands out: Among voters who say they know someone who is a refugee, 89 percent support the U.S. refugee program. We also conducted a parallel general population survey of 960 U.S. adults in October that shows similar results.
Likely Voters and Adults Believe the U.S. Should Have a Refugee Program
In both surveys, respondents were provided a description of how refugees are classified, and then asked whether or not they believe the United States should have a refugee resettlement program.
A majority of voters across partisanship are supportive of a refugee program, including 64 percent of Independents, 60 percent of Republicans, and enthusiastic sentiment among Democrats at 86 percent.
We also looked at support across demographics, such as education and race and ethnicity. We find a majority of voters across educational backgrounds believe the United States should have a refugee program. Sixty-five percent of non-college-educated voters believe in the sentiment, while there is a notably higher level of support among college-educated voters (79 percent). Across race and ethnicity, this belief is also strongly shared among Black and Latino/a voters (81 percent and 71 percent, respectively), while 69 percent of white voters also believe in this sentiment.
Similar to our survey of voters, we find that more than two-thirds (71 percent) of adults believe the U.S. should have a refugee program. Compared to our survey of voters, U.S. adults who identify as Independents show slightly higher levels of support for a U.S. refugee program, at 70 percent. We find consistent sentiment among adults who identify as Democrats (84 percent) and Republicans (60 percent).
We compared the same demographics of education and race and ethnicity in our survey of adults. Similarly to voters, college-educated adults are more likely to support a U.S. refugee program (76 percent) compared to non-college adults; however, the majority of non-college-educated adults also value a refugee program (69 percent). We also find the same patterns by race and ethnicity. Latino/a adults show the highest support for a refugee program at 77 percent, while Black adults (70 percent) and white adults (68 percent) show similar levels of support.
We also examined whether knowing a refugee is associated with believing the U.S. should have a refugee program in place. From both surveys, we find that 14 percent of voters and 15 percent of adults say they know someone who is a refugee.
Voters who say they personally know a refugee overwhelmingly believe that the U.S. should have a refugee program, with 89 percent support. Voters who personally do not know a refugee, however, also show considerable support toward refugee programs: 68 percent believe the U.S. should have this sort of program, compared to just 22 percent of voters who don’t agree.
Similarly to voters, adults who personally know a refugee are overwhelmingly more likely to believe that the U.S. should have a refugee program, at 87 percent. Adults who say they personally do not know a refugee are also supportive of a refugee program, at 70 percent.
Conclusion
Our poll shows that both likely voters and adults share compassion for refugees, believing that the U.S. has the responsibility to provide a home for those seeking safety. Knowing a refugee personally may also play an important role in nurturing this value, as people who say they know a refugee display even stronger support for the U.S. having a refugee resettlement program. As conflicts throughout the world become more intense and displace more people, Americans are fully behind their government having a robust refugee program in the years to come.
Tenneth Fairclough II (@tenten_wins) is a polling analyst at Data for Progress.