Talk Radio News Service: News, Politics, Media

Americans are growing increasingly weary of immigrants, with 54% of the population viewing legal immigration as a problem rather than an opportunity says a recent survey. The Transatlantic Trends survey conducted by the German Marshall Fund of the United States and presented to Canadian and American Immigration Department officials in New York yesterday evening, also revealed that 48% of Americans believe there are too many immigrants in the country.

Public opinion on immigration is often drawn along the lines of political affiliation, a fact that is even more obvious this year with 73% of Republicans seeing immigration as a problem, up 15% from last year. The percentage of Democrats who view legal immigration in the same light also grew from 45% to 48%. Immigration policy is gearing up to be a hot button issue in the coming election, with over two thirds of Americans saying it would influence their choice of a political candidate.

But the study also denotes an important disconnect between public perception of immigration and reality. For instance, when asked to estimate what percentage of US population was foreign born, respondents said 35 %, when in reality the number is around 14%.

"The gap is huge. This leads us to believe that education is very important here, that we don't know alot about our immigrants" says Zsolt Nyiri, Director of Transatlantic Trends, "There is alot of talk about how immigrants should learn more about their host society, and that is true, but perhaps this could be a two a way street, and that the general public can benefit from learning about the immigrants among them."

"I think the elephant in the room is the Comprehensive Immigration Reform issue and that probably has a big impact on what we are seeing in terms of public perception" says Rebecca Carson, head of the Office of Citizenship, a branch of US Citizenship and Immigration Services. ""The fact that we have not dealt with this issue as a country and the distinction between legal immigration and illegal immigration really muddies the water."