Massachusetts residents say that immigration is the top issue facing the state, a recent poll has found.
The poll, performed by the MassINC Polling Group, asked 1,002 Massachusetts residents what they believe is the most important issue facing the state, leaving the question open-ended.
A plurality of Massachusetts residents, 21%, said that immigration and migrants are the biggest issues facing the Bay State, with housing coming in second at 15%. Taxes, government spending, and welfare came in as the third biggest issue facing the state at 12%. Inflation and the cost of living, meanwhile, tied government spending in third place at 12%.
The vast majority of respondents, 67%, said that the situation was either a crisis (28%) or a major problem (39%), with Democrats showing significant concern over the issue. Among Democrats, 21% called the issue a crisis and 40% called it a major problem. The poll was conducted online between March 21st and 29th, surveyed 1,002 Massachusetts residents, and has a margin of error of 3.4 percentage points.
Immigration broke the top 10 most pressing issues among poll respondents in Massachusetts for the first time in August 2023 when it moved into fourth place with 10% of respondents dubbing it the Bay State’s biggest issue.
Massachusetts is not the only blue state that has become concerned about the effects of Biden’s open border. Another recent poll found that likely voters in Colorado say that immigration is the top issue facing their state as well. The poll found that 14% of likely Colorado voters said immigration is the top issue facing the state, with homelessness coming in second at 12%.
The Massachusetts and Colorado polls correspond with a wider national trend, with 36% of voters across the country saying that immigration is the top issue facing the country, while inflation came in second place. A recent Harvard-Harris poll also found that Biden’s lowest issue-specific approval rating is on immigration, a trend that has persisted for four consecutive months.
The poll results come as the United States faces an unprecedented crisis on our southern border, with officials recording about 9 million nationwide encounters and 1.7 million estimated gotaways since President Joe Biden took office. The figure poses a sharp contrast with the 415,000 total reported gotaways for 2018, 2019, and 2020 under the Trump administration.