A new poll finds that roughly four times as many Americans who identify as Republican or lean toward the GOP say immigration is a top U.S. problem, compared to Democrats.
Sixteen percent of Republicans in the Gallup survey released Monday say immigration is the biggest problem in America — up from only 9 percent last month and far more than the 4 percent of Democrats who say the same. In the GOP, immigration ties with "government dissatisfaction" as the top-ranked problem.
Among Democrats, government dissatisfaction is by far the front-runner, with 30 percent of respondents listing it. Race relations comes in second among Democrats with 8 percent.
The poll comes as lawmakers on Capitol Hill struggle to reach a deal on immigration reform as the government heads toward a possible shutdown at the end of the week.
President Trump
Donald John TrumpHouse Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE met with Senate lawmakers in the Oval Office last week to discuss immigration, but his remarks in the meeting blew up to be a major controversy after he reportedly described several nations as "shithole countries."
“Why are we having all these people from shithole countries come here?” Trump allegedly said, referring to immigrants from African countries, Haiti and El Salvador.
The White House initially did not deny the comment, but Trump later tweeted on Friday that he did not say "anything derogatory about Haitians."
Sen. Dick Durbin
Richard (Dick) Joseph DurbinDemocrats turn on Al Franken Minnesota's largest newspaper calls on Franken to resign Democratic senator predicts Franken will resign Thursday MORE (D-Ill.), who attended the meeting, confirmed that Trump said the remarks despite the president's denial.
Trump on Monday blamed Durbin for twisting what he had said in the meeting, dubbing him "Dicky Durbin."
"Senator Dicky Durbin totally misrepresented what was said at the DACA meeting. Deals can’t get made when there is no trust! Durbin blew DACA and is hurting our Military," he tweeted, referring to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program his administration has ended.