The 2024 Election: A Single-Issue Focus on Immigration

As the 2024 election season heats up, it’s becoming increasingly clear that immigration has emerged as the defining issue for many Americans. In an era marked by significant geopolitical shifts, economic challenges, and a changing demographic landscape, immigration is not just one of many topics; it stands at the forefront of national debate.

The American economy feels like it will break apart at any moment, Americans feel that crime is not only a serious problem but on the increase, and people feel increasingly alienated. Classical scholar Victor Davis Hanson at the Hoover Institute has even coined the term Americanus alienatus to describe the tens of millions of Americans in the Midwest and deep South who have checked out of public life in an attempt in favor of simple survival in a country they no longer recognize.

All of this centers around the issues wrought by immigration and the accompanying multicultural America that decades of unchecked mass immigration has brought about.

Those Americans that are still politically engaged and of a right wing or even centrist persuasion are increasingly motivated by the singular issue of immigration, while even some centrist Democrats are beginning to worry that the policies of their party will soon make them unelectable if not outright undesirable to huge swathes of the population.

A Polarizing Topic

Immigration has long been a polarizing issue in American politics, as James Fulford recently pointed out.

Mr. Fulford highlighted that debates about Haitian immigration go back to the 1990s and that despite more than 30 years having passed we are still dealing with increased Haitian immigration into the country.

This and other recent events have amplified its prominence. The Biden administration's handling of border security, asylum policies, and immigration reform has drawn both criticism and resulted in low approval ratings for the sitting President. Mr. Biden’s approval ratings are so low in fact (just 38%) that voters are now retrospectively ranking Trump more favorably .

For many voters, these immigration policies represent more than just bureaucratic decisions; they embody deeper concerns about national security, economic stability, and cultural identity.

In 2024, the stakes are higher than ever. With rising illegal border crossings and ongoing debates about refugee admissions, the immigration narrative is not just about policy—it’s about values and priorities. Immigration levels have become so catastrophically high that the number of Americans favoring a decrease in immigration has reached 55% as of June 2024, the highest figure since roughly 2002/2003.

Economic Implications

The economic implications of immigration cannot be overstated. For many Americans, particularly in border states, the perceived impact of immigration on jobs and wages is a primary concern. White Papers has reported before that the consensus is in among think-tanks, including Libertarian institutions such as the Cato Institute: mass immigration reduces the wages of Americans and drives down standards of living.

So far candidates have not addressed this issue directly other than to say, in the case of Donald Trump, that some level of mass deportation is necessary in order to get a grip on the situation. In particular Trump has focused on immigration’s impact on constricting the supply of housing while Kamala Harris favors other policies such as spending $25,000 in taxpayer money for each couple seeking to buy their first home. It does not seem to have occurred to Mrs. Harris that housing will only become more expensive in response to her policy intervention, while former President Trump has yet to decide if he supports deporting all illegal aliens or just the “bad ones” and it does not seem his flip flopping on this issue will end any time before election day.

National Security and Public Safety

For a significant portion of the electorate, immigration is intrinsically linked to national security. High-profile incidents involving crime and border security have fueled fears about the implications of lax immigration policies. Candidates are harnessing these fears to rally support, arguing that robust immigration enforcement is crucial for protecting communities.

This focus on security resonates strongly with voters who prioritize safety and stability. The narrative of a "secure border" often translates to broader themes of law and order, tapping into deeper societal anxieties. As a result, immigration becomes not just an issue of policy but a question of safety and national identity.

Cultural Identity and Values

Americans are relocating en masse from states that receive large numbers of immigrants to states that have relatively low immigrant populations. California (which houses 23% of the nation’s immigrants) is seeing a mass exodus of namely White and Black Americans while states like Maine and Tennessee, which have immigrant populations of barely 5%, are seeing large inflows of people from the likes of California, New York, and other increasingly multicultural (and incidentally left wing) states.

Americans have been reduced to fleeing parts of their own country in the hopes of continuing to live in communities and cultures they find at least somewhat recognizable, but this is not without its own drawbacks. In Idaho rent prices have increased by 40% while the average cost of homes has jumped a staggering 50%. As a result many generational Idaho families are being priced out by wealthy Californians, Washingtonians, and other coastal Americans fleeing to the state. This has caused serious political tension between natives of Idaho, who are largely conservative, and the recent arrivals from blue states, many of whom appear to bring their progressive strand of politics with them.

This same story is playing out in the likes of Wyoming and Texas, where conservative local populations are imploring the Californian and other Coastal “refugees” not to radically alter the politics of their states as they flee the multicultural disaster zones created on America’s shorelines.

Conclusion

As the 2024 election approaches, immigration stands out as a critical, single-issue topic that could define the electoral landscape. Many Americans want to see the radical demographic shifts taking place in their communities come to an end while others are eager to prevent cultural shifts being created by other Americans moving in as they flee those areas of this country already radically transformed by the past 60 years of unchecked mass immigration.

Regardless of what happens, tens of millions of Americans are voting to get a grip on immigration, everything else is a secondary concern.

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