Poll: Hispanics divided over what Trump presidency means about their place in U.S.
Hispanic people in the U.S. are divided about what Donald Trump’s presidency means for them, according to a new survey from the Pew Research Center.
The poll found that 54 percent of Hispanics said that they’re confident about their place in America after Mr. Trump’s election and 41 percent said they have serious concerns.
Among undocumented immigrants, 55 percent said that they have serious concerns about their place in the U.S. The same was said by 38 percent of U.S.-born Hispanic and 34 percent of Hispanic immigrants to the U.S. Forty-nine percent of Hispanic lawful permanent residents said they have serious concerns, too.
Nearly half, 49 percent, said the situation for Hispanics is about the same today as it was a year ago, Pew found. Nearly a third, 32 percent, said their situation was worsened and 16 percent said it has improved.
More than two-thirds of undocumented immigrants, 67 percent, said they worry a lot about being deported or someone close to them being deported and 22 percent said they worry some. Even two-thirds of green card holders said they are worried about deportation of themselves or someone close to them. The same was said by a third of U.S.-born Hispanics while 55 percent of them said they don’t worry much or at all about deportation.
The Department of Homeland Security issued two memos Tuesday morning that could expand the number of immigrants detained or deported as part the administration’s crackdown on undocumented immigrants in the U.S. While a DHS official rejected the idea of this plan leading to mass deportations, the official said that just because criminals will be prioritized doesn’t mean everyone else is exempt from potential enforcement.
The poll found that 40 percent of Hispanic adults think Mr. Trump will be a poor or terrible president and 28 percent said he would be an average president. Twenty-two percent said he would be a good or great president.
The survey polled 1,001 Hispanic adults between Dec. 7 and Jan. 15 with a 3.6 percentage point margin of error.
