On issue of undocumented immigrants, survey finds young people of color prefer Clinton, young whites Trump

A new survey released today highlights how race and ethnicity shape the opinions of America's young people by exploring critical issues such as the 2016 presidential race, experiences with police, and immigration. The GenForward survey is from the Black Youth Project at the University of Chicago with The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

Data from the most recent GenForward survey shows that young whites tend to believe Trump would better deal with undocumented immigrants while African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino/as are more likely to say Clinton would better handle such immigrants.

In contrast to this race/ethnicity split, majorities of all racial and ethnic groups support policies that provide opportunities for immigrants to become citizens and oppose deporting all illegal immigrants and building a wall along the Mexican border.

There is mixed support for temporarily banning immigrants from areas of the world with a history of terrorism from the entering the U.S.

"Young people are supportive of a number of pro-immigration policies," said Cathy Cohen, a professor of political science and founder of the Black Youth Project and GenForward survey at the University of Chicago. "At least 7 in 10 young people of all races and ethnicities support a range of policies to help immigrants stay in the country legally. But there are real differences by race and ethnicity when it comes to other policies like employer verification of citizenship status or increasing spending on border patrol."

The new GenForward survey also explores attitudes toward policing and finds significant racial and ethnic differences in young people's experiences with the police. While being stopped by police at similar rates to young whites, African Americans, and Latino/as are more likely to report being arrested or harassed.

The survey finds that African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino/as are all more likely to believe Clinton would better handle both police violence against African Americans and attacks against police. Whites are split, and are more likely to believe Hillary Clinton will better handle police violence against African Americans but Trump will better handle attacks against police.

Some of the key findings from the nationally representative survey of young people age 18-30 taken August 1-14, include:

• Most young people of all races and ethnicities favor policies that provide opportunities for immigrants to become citizens. At the same time, about half of young whites and African Americans support a plan to temporarily ban immigrants from areas of the world with a history of terrorism from entering the United States.
• Although young whites and African Americans report being stopped by the police at similar rates, African Americans are more likely to report having been arrested or harassed by the police. Whites are less likely than other young adults to think the killing of black Americans by the police is part of a larger pattern or a very serious problem for the country.
• African Americans are less likely than other young people to trust the police to do what is right or believe the police in their neighborhood are there to protect them. Many young people of all races and ethnicities believe policy changes such as requiring on-duty police officers to wear video cameras would be very effective in preventing police violence against civilians.
• Young African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino/as continue to favor Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump while young whites are divided between the candidates. However, many young people, especially Latino/as, are uncertain if they will vote in November.

"In our third survey, while we continue to see splits in how young Whites, African Americans, Asian Americans, and Latino/as view critical issues, there are exceptions," said Trevor Tompson, director of The AP-NORC Center. "Many young people of all races and ethnicities support options for illegal immigrants to become citizens and believe policy changes such as requiring on-duty police officers to wear video cameras would be effective in preventing police violence against civilians."