Polling data on migration

Polling data on migration explores questions on issues such as:

  • People’s desire to migrate, including the details of the source and target countries.
  • The experiences and attitudes of migrants themselves.
  • The experiences and attitudes of people with respect to immigrants in their midst.
  • The experiences and attitudes of the family/friends of emigrants with respect to emigrants.

Key sources of polling data:

People’s desire to migrate, including the details of the source and target countries

Gallup polls have asked people if they would move to other countries if they were allowed to do so. Some of the major polls and their findings are discussed below.

A Reader’s Digest poll asked people whether they would move if economic and political barriers were non-existent, and found substantially higher numbers than the Gallup poll. The methodology of the Reader’s Digest poll is less clear, but it is a valuable data point for the question it asked, which is different from Gallup’s question.

The Reader’s Digest poll was discussed in a blog post A question related to open immigration policy by Eugene Volokh and further discussed in an Open Borders Action Group post by Carl Shulman linking to Volokh’s blog post.

Experiences and attitudes of people with respect to immigrants in their midst

International polls:

List of multiple polls in the United States:

Gallup polls in the United States:

Pew polls in the United States:

Other polls:

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