Democrats increasingly sour over Biden's border response

Democrats are increasingly disagreeing with the Biden administration's response to the increase in illegal immigration at the U.S. border, with nearly three in four saying that they believe the government is doing a "very" or "somewhat" bad job of handling the crisis, according to a new survey.

While 80% of U.S. adults say the government is doing a "very" or "somewhat" bad job of dealing with illegal immigration, when broken down by party, 89% of Republicans are critical of the federal response, while 73% of Democrats are, according to a new survey published last week by the Pew Research Center.

The percentage of Democrats who are critical of the government's response to the situation at the southern border increased by 11% from another Pew survey taken less than 8 months ago. That survey showed 62% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning respondents thought the government was doing a "very" or "somewhat" bad job at addressing the border, while 87% of Republicans thought the same at the time.

Both surveys show dramatically higher percentages of Democrats are critical than they were during the beginning of the Biden presidency. In April 2021, another Pew survey showed that 56% of Democrats said the U.S. government was doing a bad job at the border compared to 86% of Republicans who said the same.

The latest Pew survey on the border was conducted Jan. 16 to Jan. 21, 2024, with 5,140 U.S. adults and it has a 1.7% margin of error. 

The border is likely to be a major issue in the 2024 presidential election as President Joe Biden runs for reelection.

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