Immigrant communities and the 2024 election: voting requirements and political preferences
Immigration has become one of the central issues of the 2024 election. How immigrant communities tend to vote, and who is eligible to cast a ballot.
Immigration has become one of the central issues for both parties during this election season. Over the past weeks, both Trump and Harris have brought up immigration, but the rhetoric does not always reflect the beliefs of most voters.
A majority of US voters from both parties believe that undocumented immigrants take jobs that are left open by US citizens. Additionally, as both candidates talk about the border and increasing enforcement, polls show that most voters believe in amnesty for undocumented immigrants who came to the US as children, the group known as Dreamers. This group, which was protected under the Obama Administration under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, commonly known as DACA, is not mentioned on Harris' campaign website.
Origin of US Immigrants
The United States is a country of immigrants, and each year, as millions are naturalized, they become eligible to vote. Their opinions are often diverse, even within diaspora groups. Still, in the past, many more recent arrivals have opted to vote for the Democratic party because leaders have towed a much more immigration-friendly line and made promises to reform the broken system. In 2020, CNN data found that voters identifying as Hispanic/Latino or Asian favored President Biden, with the Democrat obtaining 65 and 63 percent of the vote from each of these groups, respectively.
The number of U.S. citizens born in another country continues to rise. The latest official figure is 46.1 million people. These figures come from Pew Research, which found that among the countries with the most immigrants, the most prominent is Mexico, which is home to 23 percent (10.6 million) of U.S. immigrants. Next on the list are immigrants from India, with 2.6 million and 6 percent; China, home to 2.5 million 5 percent of the immigrant population; and the Philippines, which represents 4 percent of immigrants with 2 million people.
Data show that Latin America, excluding Mexico but considering the Caribbean, Central America, and South America, has a percentage of immigrants in the United States of 27%. Twenty-eight percent come from Asia, 12% from Europe, Canada, and other North American countries, and 9% from Africa.
Furthermore, according to the same Pew study, 77 percent of immigrants are living in the United States legally (49% of the population are naturalized U.S. citizens, 24% are legal permanent residents, and 4% are temporary residents). On the other hand, 23%, some 11 million people, are undocumented immigrants.
Who can vote?
According to the United States Government, those who can vote are:
- They hold U.S. citizenship by birth or naturalization.
- They have US citizenship even if they live in another country.
- They have dual citizenship of the United States from another country, whether living in the United States or abroad.
- Meet your state’s residency requirements, even if you are homeless.
- They are 18 years old on election day.
- Be registered to vote. You must register by the registration deadline in each state. North Dakota is the only state that does not require voter registration.
Therefore, non-U.S. citizens, Green Card holders, convicted persons, people with specific mental disabilities, and U.S. citizens in unincorporated territories such as Puerto Rico will be prohibited from voting.
Altogether, it is estimated that around twenty-four million immigrants who have been naturalized as US citizens will vote in the 2024 election. Based on the number of votes cast in 2020, this group of voters represents around sixteen percent of the electorate.