Survey: Only 26% Think America Should Accept More Syrian Refugees

ashley.rae | September 18, 2015
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A recent survey shows that while a majority of Americans believe the United States should “provide refuge to people fleeing war or oppression in their home countries,” 59 percent believe America has already accepted enough refugees, and only 26 percent think America should accept more Syrian refugees.

In a survey conducted from Sept 3-7, YouGov asked 1000 American adults for their opinions of the controversial refugee issue.

In response to the broad question of whether the United States should “provide refuge to people fleeing war or oppression in their home countries?” 52 percent of respondents stated the country “should” provide refuge while 21 percent responded America “should not.”

However, after YouGov told those surveyed, “There are just over 450,000 refugees or people who have applied for refugee status currently living in the United States,” a majority of individuals replied they felt as if the United States accepts “neither too many nor too few refugees” or that the number of refugees the country currently accepts is already too high.

After providing information about the number of refugees and individuals who have applied to seek refuge that are currently living in the country, the survey asked, “Do you think that the United States could take more refugees or is the number already too high?”

In response, 28 percent stated, “The number of refugees is already far too high,” 17 percent replied, “The number of refugees is already a little too high,” and 14 percent claimed, “There are neither too many nor too few refugees.”

In total, 59 percent of those surveyed believe America has either taken in too many refugees or has accepted “neither too many nor too few refugees.”

21 percent responded America could take in more refugees: 10 percent responded America could accept “few more refugees” and 11 percent stated America could accept “many more refugees.”

On the specific topic of Syrian refugees, YouGov told respondents, “The United States has so far accepted just under 1,000 refugees from Syria” and then asked, “Do you think that the United States should accept more or fewer refugees fleeing the civil war in Syria?”

Surveyed about the Syrian refugees, nearly half (49 percent) of those polled believe the country should be accepting the same amount (19 percent) or fewer (30 percent) refugees from Syria.

26 percent replied the country should accept more refugees.

The question about Syrian refugees comes after the White House has announced it plans to increase the number of Syrian refugees in America to 10,000.

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