Most voters say Democrats want open borders, the Harvard CAPS/HarrisX poll shows

More than half of U.S. voters say that Democrats stand for open borders, a new poll shows.

About 58% of respondents said Democrats support open borders, the April 2026 Harvard CAPS/HarrisX survey found. This share has ticked up by 2 percentage points since March.

The poll asked “Do you think that the Democrats are standing now for open borders or are they against open borders?” Fifty-two percent of Democrats and 67% of Republicans said the Democratic Party is for open borders. Fifty-three percent of independents and others agreed.

Forty-eight percent of Democrats, 33% of Republicans and 47% of independents/others said the Democratic Party is against open borders.

Survey respondents ranked immigration as the third-most important facing the country, behind inflation/price increases (No. 1) and the economy/jobs (No. 2).

The survey found President Trump’s approval rating “underwater” across all key issues, but his strongest ratings were on crime and immigration, the latter at 47% approval.

Deporting illegal immigrants who have committed crimes is Mr. Trump’s second-most popular policy, according to the poll. Sixty-three percent of Democrats and 89% of Republicans agreed with the policy.

Fifty-three percent of respondents supported and 47% opposed hiring 20,000 Border Patrol and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents to conduct raids around the country. Twenty-three percent of Democrats and 77% of Republicans supported the initiative.

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The survey found that the Department of Homeland Security has a net favorability of 48% and a net unfavorability of 34%. ICE has a net favorability of 40% and a net unfavorability of 46%.

DHS has endured a record-setting funding lapse that left thousands of employees without paychecks and the political parties at loggerheads over how to move forward.

The shutdown stemmed from a dispute over immigration enforcement funding, with Democrats demanding ICE policy changes after fatal shootings of protesters involving federal agents.

After the 76-day funding lapse, Mr. Trump signed a bill to fund most of the DHS after the House passed a Senate-approved measure.

The Harvard CAPS/HarrisX poll was conducted April 23-26 among 2,745 registered voters in an opt-in, web-panel recruitment sampling. It has a margin of error for the total sample of plus or minus 1.87 percentage points.

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• Mary McCue Bell can be reached at mbell@washingtontimes.com.