Poll: Most Americans view openness to foreigners as "essential to who we are as a nation"

For a large majority of Americans, the country’s openness to people from around the world “is essential to who we are as a nation.” In a new Pew Research Center survey, 68% say America’s openness to foreigners is a defining characteristic of the nation, while just 29% say “if America is too open to people from all over the world, we risk losing our identity as a nation.”

The belief that openness to people from around the world is essential is widely shared across most demographic groups. However, Democrats and younger people are considerably more likely than others to hold this view, according to the national survey, conducted June 27-July 9 among 2,505 adults.

Among Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents, an overwhelming share (84%) thinks America’s openness is essential to who we are as a nation. Republicans and Republican leaners are divided: 47% say America’s openness is essential, while 48% say being too open carries with it the risk of losing our identity as a nation.

Conservative Republicans are more likely than moderate and liberal Republicans to express concern that openness is a threat to the nation’s identity. About half (51%) of conservative Republicans say this, compared with 41% of moderate and liberal Republicans.