I’m trolling a little bit with that headline. But at least it has the benefit of being true, unlike the headline Gallup itself went with: “Americans Want More, Not Less, Immigration for First Time.”
Here are the actual data:
It’s true that more Americans want higher immigration than want lower immigration — something that has never been true before. (This lends some support to the “thermostat” theory in which public opinion goes against the president in power.) However, leaving immigration levels where they are is still easily the median opinion, and the plurality by a slim margin too. The status quo is what we get when neither side has the numbers to make a change, and neither the immigration-increasers nor the immigration-decreasers sit within 15 points of a majority.
As I always say, we should be tinkering with the skill level of the immigrants we bring in, not the number.