KJZZ is a service of Rio Salado College,
and Maricopa Community Colleges

Copyright © 2024 KJZZ/Rio Salado College/MCCCD
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Majority of U.S. voters think immigrants working in jobs American citizens don't want, study finds

Farmworkers harvesting in a field
Getty Images
Farm workers harvesting yellow bell peppers near Gilroy, California.

A majority of U.S. voters believe immigrants are working in jobs U.S. citizens don’t want. That’s according to a new report from the Pew Research Center.

Researchers say they surveyed voters across the country this fall and found about 75% believed undocumented immigrants take jobs U.S. citizens don’t want. About 60% said the same of immigrants with legal permissions to be in the United States.

That was the case across the political spectrum — though at different rates.

Ninety percent of Harris supporters believed undocumented immigrants were in jobs American citizens didn’t want, compared with almost 60% of Trump voters. The researchers say their new findings are very similar to those from 2020.

The 2022 Pew analysis showed the largest share of immigrant workers is in the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector — accounting for about 27% of the workforce — followed by construction, with about 26%.

Pew research from 2022 shows immigrants make up about 18% of the overall U.S. labor force and do not outpace U.S. citizens in any major industry.-

Alisa Reznick is a senior field correspondent covering stories across southern Arizona and the borderlands for the Tucson bureau of KJZZ's Fronteras Desk.
Related Content