Andrew Dugan, Gallup, January 29, 2015

As congressional Republicans weigh whether to file a lawsuit against President Barack Obama for his executive actions on immigration, 60% of Americans say they are dissatisfied with the level of immigration into the country today. This is an increase of six percentage points from 2014, but is comfortably lower than the 2008 high of 72%. By contrast, one-third of Americans are satisfied with current levels of immigration.

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Importantly, this survey question does not distinguish between legal and illegal immigration. {snip}

Nearly Two in Five Want Less Immigration

In a follow-up question that queried Americans who are dissatisfied with the current levels of immigration, the majority–39% of U.S. adults in total–said they would like to see the level of immigration decrease. This ranks among the lowest level of Americans who are dissatisfied and express a desire for less immigration since Gallup began asking the question in 2001, even if it is nominally higher than last year’s 35%. The share of Americans who are dissatisfied and want more immigration (7%) was unchanged from 2014.

Fourteen percent of Americans said they were dissatisfied with the current level of immigration in the country, but did not express a specific preference for either increasing or decreasing it.

Republicans Most Dissatisfied With Level of Immigration

More than four out of every five self-identified Republicans say they are dissatisfied with the current level of immigration (84%), a figure that towers above the number of independents (54%) or Democrats (44%) who feel similarly. Moreover, the number of GOP affiliates saying they are dissatisfied on this issue swelled by 19 percentage points compared with 2014–suggesting that the overall increase in public dissatisfaction with immigration levels is driven primarily by Republicans, perhaps in reaction to the president’s actions. However, even among Democrats, dissatisfaction increased by eight points this year.

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