About 6-in-10 oppose building a wall along the entire border with Mexico, and most doubt that Mexico would ultimately pay for that wall, as Trump has suggested (74% say that’s unlikely). Two-thirds oppose mass deportation of the kind Trump advocated in an immigration-focused speech in Arizona last week, with 66% saying the government should not attempt to deport all people living in the country illegally (even among Trump’s supporters, just 45% support such a plan).
But there’s a tight split among voters over which candidate would do the better job handling immigration, according to results from the same CNN/ORC Poll released Monday. Among registered voters, 49% say they trust Clinton on the issue, 47% Trump. Those who trust Clinton on immigration overwhelmingly say the nation’s top immigration priority should be finding a way for those in the country illegally to stay (71%), while the Trump backers are more focused on stopping people from entering the country illegally (56%).
Overall, 51% say developing a plan to allow legal residency for those working in the US illegally should be the nation’s first priority in terms of immigration policy, while 36% say developing a plan to stop immigrants from entering the US illegally should be the first priority.
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