90.1% of respondents agree or strongly agree that “If we are experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, it would be better in the long-term to reform education and training for Americans.”
68.9% of respondents agree or strongly agree that “Its commonly said that immigrants do the jobs Americans won’t do. But the reality is that employers just want to pay their employees less.”
34.7% of white Republicans are in some from of agreement with the statement that “Many people who support immigration are motivated by racism against whites” compared to 27.6% only four months ago.
By David Zsutty
Around Christmas Eve in 2024, a firestorm erupted on X (formerly known as Twitter) regarding H-1B work visas. Elon Musk, who was in favor of H-1Bs, found himself opposed by almost every major conservative influencer in addition to vast numbers of rank-and-file X users.
This was a stark departure from the usual tepid chamber of commerce conservatism towards national populism. And what was more surprising was the number of details that surfaced about the H-1B program. For example, the actual number of visas granted in 2024 was over ten times the annual Congressional cap. 
But much how does online discourse about H-1Bs reflect public opinion in the real world? To explore this question, the Homeland Institute polled 868 respondents who are politically and demographically representative of white, non-Hispanic American registered voters between January 2 and January 8, 2025. The margin of error was plus or minus 3%.
1. Initial Attitudes
We began by examining respondents’ initial impression of the H-1B visa program along with whether they think that the Congressional cap should be changed:
| Q.1 The H-1B is a visa that allows United States employers to employ foreign workers in specialty occupations. It is the largest visa category in the United States in terms of guest worker numbers. A “specialty occupation” requires the application of specialized knowledge and a bachelor’s degree or equivalent work experience. | ||||
| Which of the following best describes your opinion of the H-1B work visa program? | ||||
| Results by Party | % | % | % | |
| % | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Very positive | 13.9% | 24.5% | 12.5% | 6.7% |
| Positive | 37.1% | 46.3% | 32.9% | 33.2% |
| Neutral | 25.2% | 16.7% | 30.6% | 28.0% |
| Negative | 13.4% | 7.8% | 13.7% | 17.2% |
| Very negative | 8.4% | 3.1% | 7.5% | 13.1% |
| I don’t know | 2.0% | 1.6% | 2.7% | 1.7% |
| Q.2 The H-1B work visa program currently has a cap set by Congress on the total number of work visas which can be issued each fiscal year. The current cap is 65,000 visas, with an additional 20,000 which can be issued to those graduating with a master’s degrees or a higher qualification from a U.S. college or university for a total of 85,000. | ||||
| However, employers routinely receive approval for many more visas. For example, 868,000 H-1B visas were approved in 2024, which is over ten times the Congressional limit. Do you think we should: | ||||
| Results by Party | % | % | % | |
| % | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Abolish the cap on H-1B visas | 7.7% | 15.6% | 5.5% | 2.9% |
| Increase the cap | 19.0% | 28.4% | 19.2% | 12.2% |
| Keep the current cap | 30.4% | 28.8% | 29.8% | 32.4% |
| Decrease the cap | 20.2% | 12.5% | 20.0% | 26.2% |
| Abolish H-1B visas | 11.5% | 3.5% | 10.6% | 18.4% |
| I don’t know | 11.2% | 11.3% | 14.9% | 7.9% |
More respondents had a positive view than a negative view of the H-1B program, with Democrats having the most positive view and Republicans the least positive view. However, it should be noted that the Republicans who had a very negative view, at 13.1%, outnumbered the Republicans who had a very positive view at 6.7%. This suggests that despite the overall positive view of H-1Bs that there is still a segment of voters who have the requisite emotional intensity to mobilize for H-1B reform.
Despite the positive view of H-1Bs, a plurality of respondents at about 30% would prefer to keep the cap, about equal numbers would prefer to decrease or increase the cap at about 20% each, and more would prefer to abolish the H-1B program outright at 11.5% than abolish the cap on H-1B visas at 7.7%. And among Republicans, the number who would prefer to decrease the cap or abolish the program outright decisively outnumbered those who would prefer to abolish the cap or increase the cap.
While these are good numbers, they could still be better. Why aren’t they? One possible reason is that the controversy over H-1B visas is extremely new. And if we assume that political ideology also correlates with personality types, conservative opinion may take longer to change than liberals, who during the Covid era were infamous for effortlessly “downloading firmware updates” from official sources and liberal influencers. Furthermore, the H-1B controversy began on Christmas Eve, when many people were spending time with their loved ones and “touching grass” (or snow) than engaging in online debate. Furthermore, X may be transforming into something of an echo chamber for the Right as much as Blue Sky is for the Left—neither of which will accurately reflect the general public opinion. That President Trump broke his initial silence on the issue and weighed in favor of Musk’s pro-visa stance also probably played a role.
2. Specific Arguments
To gauge which arguments are the most persuasive, we next exposed respondents to a series of statements and asked them if they strongly agreed, agreed, were neutral, disagreed, strongly disagreed, or didn’t know.
The statement that we should reform American education and training rather than importing foreign workers had by far the most agreement with a shocking 90.1% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing:
| Q.13 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “If we are experiencing a shortage of skilled workers, it would be better in the long-term to reform education and training for Americans.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 48.1% | 40.1% | 49.8% | 51.3% |
| Agree | 42.0% | 44.4% | 41.6% | 39.9% |
| Neutral | 7.2% | 11.7% | 4.7% | 5.5% |
| Disagree | 2.3% | 2.3% | 1.2% | 2.6% |
| Strongly disagree | 0.4% | 0.8% | 0.0% | 0.0% |
| I don’t know | 1.3% | 0.8% | 2.7% | 0.6% |
The statement with the next highest agreement was that “Its commonly said that immigrants do the jobs Americans won’t do. But the reality is that employers just want to pay their employees less” with 68.9% of all respondents, 70.9% of Independents, and 72.6% of Republicans agreeing.
| Q.12 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Its commonly said that immigrants do the jobs Americans won’t do. But the reality is that employers just want to pay their employees less.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 28.9% | 20.2% | 32.9% | 32.7% |
| Agree | 40.0% | 41.2% | 38.0% | 39.9% |
| Neutral | 15.8% | 16.0% | 17.6% | 14.3% |
| Disagree | 10.8% | 15.2% | 7.1% | 10.5% |
| Strongly disagree | 2.3% | 5.8% | 1.2% | 0.6% |
| I don’t know | 2.2% | 1.6% | 3.1% | 2.0% |
That these two statements had such overwhelming agreement across party lines means that they should be the arguments that H-1B skeptics prioritize.
A common argument made by proponents of H-1B visas on X was that we need to recruit the best talent like a sports team. But the statement with the third highest agreement was diametrically opposed to this argument:
| Q.18 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Some have argued for increasing immigration and guest workers on the grounds that we need to recruit the best talent so we can be more competitive like a sports team. This analogy is inappropriate, however, because a country is fundamentally different from a sports team.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 20.7% | 13.7% | 23.7% | 26.7% |
| Agree | 38.7% | 43.4% | 39.8% | 38.7% |
| Neutral | 16.6% | 12.4% | 21.2% | 18.4% |
| Disagree | 16.8% | 25.7% | 14.1% | 14.1% |
| Strongly disagree | 2.5% | 4.8% | 1.2% | 2.1% |
| I don’t know | 4.6% | 3.2% | 5.8% | 5.2% |
While its good to know that the sports team analogy is falling on deaf ears, it was odd that identitarian statements had low agreement:
| Q.20 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Many people who support immigration are motivated by racism against whites.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 7.3% | 1.6% | 4.4% | 14.3% |
| Agree | 11.4% | 2.4% | 10.4% | 20.4% |
| Neutral | 14.2% | 6.7% | 15.3% | 20.4% |
| Disagree | 32.9% | 27.4% | 43.4% | 31.0% |
| Strongly disagree | 31.3% | 61.9% | 26.5% | 14.0% |
| I don’t know | 2.9% | 2.0% | 2.4% | 4.3% |
| Q.21 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “It would be best to limit immigration and guest workers as much as possible to people from Europe, Russia, or the Anglo-sphere.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 6.6% | 1.2% | 6.3% | 12.1% |
| Agree | 10.3% | 4.8% | 8.8% | 17.1% |
| Neutral | 20.7% | 11.3% | 22.9% | 29.2% |
| Disagree | 35.3% | 41.5% | 40.8% | 31.1% |
| Strongly disagree | 22.0% | 41.1% | 21.3% | 10.6% |
| I don’t know | 5.2% | 3.6% | 6.3% | 6.5% |
This suggests that the white electorate has more of a civic, rather than ethnic, sense of national identity which is in line with previous Homeland Institute findings.
However, that 34.7% of white Republicans are in some form of agreement with the statement that “Many people who support immigration are motivated by racism against whites” is a significant increase from the 27.6% who were in some form of agreement with the exact same statement in a September, 2024 Homeland Institute poll. While both polls have a margin of plus or minus 3%, that there was a 7.1% increase over the course of only four months suggests that white identity politics is breaking into the mainstream.
Furthermore, that many proponents of H-1B visas have made comments that are implicitly or explicitly derogatory of whites and other native born Americans means that we should continue to emphasize the anti-white aspect of immigration.
The fourth through sixth statements with the highest agreement were of an economic flavor:
| Q.4 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Because H-1B workers are tied to a single employer, and will be deported if they are terminated, they are at higher risk of abuse and exploitation by their employers.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 19.2% | 27.6% | 22.7% | 10.2% |
| Agree | 39.5% | 45.1% | 39.2% | 35.9% |
| Neutral | 17.1% | 12.1% | 20.8% | 17.5% |
| Disagree | 14.5% | 8.2% | 8.6% | 23.9% |
| Strongly disagree | 3.7% | 1.2% | 1.2% | 7.6% |
| I don’t know | 6.0% | 5.8% | 7.5% | 5.0% |
| Q.11 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Companies that hire H-1B workers should be required to pay a substantial annual fee per worker to show that they really can’t find an American worker and that the job is truly essential.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 23.4% | 10.5% | 24.7% | 32.1% |
| Agree | 32.7% | 34.6% | 31.8% | 32.4% |
| Neutral | 15.9% | 16.0% | 20.4% | 12.2% |
| Disagree | 19.7% | 27.2% | 14.1% | 18.4% |
| Strongly disagree | 4.8% | 8.6% | 2.7% | 3.2% |
| I don’t know | 3.5% | 3.1% | 6.3% | 1.7% |
| Q.17 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “The law of supply and demand is not suspended when immigration is involved. Thus, accepting large numbers of immigrants or foreign workers naturally depresses wages while raising the cost of housing.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 17.9% | 5.4% | 18.0% | 27.1% |
| Agree | 36.4% | 27.2% | 36.9% | 43.4% |
| Neutral | 16.4% | 18.7% | 18.4% | 12.8% |
| Disagree | 16.7% | 29.6% | 12.5% | 9.9% |
| Strongly disagree | 2.3% | 5.4% | 1.2% | 0.6% |
| I don’t know | 10.4% | 13.6% | 12.9% | 6.1% |
This continues the theme that white voters are focused on economics. Thus, the demand that employers who hire H-1B workers pay a fee to show that they really can’t find an American worker, as opposed to just wanting to exploit cheap scab labor, would be an effective and electorally popular way to tackle the widespread abuse of the H-1B visa program. After days of extensive bullying, Elon Musk himself voiced support for “raising the minimum salary significantly and adding a yearly cost for maintaining the H1B, making it materially more expensive to hire from overseas than domestically.”
52.1% of respondents were in favor using IQ and similar tests, rather than college degrees, for employment. However, slightly fewer agreed with reforming the Civil Rights laws to make that policy feasible:
| Q.15 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “If we need more skilled workers, we should encourage employers to use IQ tests, aptitude tests, and/or technical certificates in lieu of traditional degrees.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 17.3% | 10.9% | 11.8% | 25.9% |
| Agree | 34.8% | 28.0% | 36.1% | 39.7% |
| Neutral | 20.0% | 22.2% | 23.5% | 15.7% |
| Disagree | 17.5% | 23.3% | 17.3% | 12.8% |
| Strongly disagree | 6.7% | 12.5% | 6.7% | 2.3% |
| I don’t know | 3.7% | 3.1% | 4.7% | 3.5% |
| Q.16 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “As of now, Civil Rights legislation and court rulings make using IQ tests and other aptitude tests dangerous for employers. We should reform Civil Rights law so that employers can safely use IQ and other aptitude tests to hire new employees.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 11.4% | 8.2% | 7.5% | 16.9% |
| Agree | 33.6% | 24.9% | 29.4% | 43.1% |
| Neutral | 21.4% | 17.9% | 25.9% | 20.4% |
| Disagree | 15.8% | 25.3% | 17.6% | 7.6% |
| Strongly disagree | 9.7% | 17.1% | 9.8% | 4.1% |
| I don’t know | 8.1% | 6.6% | 9.8% | 7.9% |
Resistance to reforming Civil Rights law was largely driven by Democrats, with more Independents agreeing than disagreeing with such reforms. Thus, reforming Civil Rights law to allow for employment tests would still be electorally viable.
The statements with the next highest levels of agreement were on how companies that benefit from subsidies and tariffs should hire American, the dangers of immigrant workers having dual loyalties, and the feasibility of remote work. These statements still had more agreement than disagreement among Independents and Republicans:
| Q.10 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Companies that receive government subsidies or benefit from tariffs (which are paid for by American citizens through taxes or higher prices) should be required to hire only American citizens.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 21.0% | 8.2% | 21.2% | 30.3% |
| Agree | 29.6% | 23.0% | 30.2% | 33.8% |
| Neutral | 19.1% | 21.4% | 20.8% | 16.6% |
| Disagree | 19.6% | 30.7% | 16.5% | 13.7% |
| Strongly disagree | 5.1% | 8.6% | 5.1% | 2.3% |
| I don’t know | 5.6% | 8.2% | 6.3% | 3.2% |
| Q.7 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Too many immigrants and foreign workers have dual loyalties. Using foreign workers to develop sensitive technologies like AI (artificial intelligence) is dangerous because some may steal sensitive secrets for their homelands.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 16.4% | 3.5% | 13.7% | 27.7% |
| Agree | 34.1% | 26.5% | 36.9% | 38.2% |
| Neutral | 22.0% | 21.8% | 25.9% | 19.2% |
| Disagree | 18.1% | 32.3% | 14.1% | 11.1% |
| Strongly disagree | 5.1% | 9.7% | 5.1% | 0.9% |
| I don’t know | 4.4% | 6.2% | 4.3% | 2.9% |
| Q.9 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “The Covid era showed that many jobs can be done remotely. H-1B visas should not be granted for jobs that can be substantially accomplished remotely.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 18.0% | 8.9% | 16.9% | 25.9% |
| Agree | 28.7% | 23.3% | 28.2% | 32.9% |
| Neutral | 22.4% | 23.0% | 27.5% | 17.8% |
| Disagree | 19.8% | 28.8% | 18.0% | 14.6% |
| Strongly disagree | 6.8% | 12.1% | 4.3% | 4.4% |
| I don’t know | 4.4% | 3.9% | 5.1% | 4.4% |
The following statements had much lower levels of agreement:
| Q.14 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “If we need more workers, it would be better in the long-term to increase American birthrates than to increase immigration.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 15.4% | 3.5% | 15.7% | 24.5% |
| Agree | 19.7% | 9.7% | 14.5% | 30.6% |
| Neutral | 22.5% | 16.7% | 30.6% | 20.4% |
| Disagree | 27.1% | 42.4% | 25.1% | 17.5% |
| Strongly disagree | 12.7% | 26.1% | 10.2% | 4.4% |
| I don’t know | 2.6% | 1.6% | 3.9% | 2.6% |
| Q.19 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Increasing immigration is dangerous because it reduces patriotism among the native-born. If there is a national crisis, many immigrants would return to their homelands while many native-born would be unwilling to step up.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 12.3% | 2.0% | 10.5% | 22.7% |
| Agree | 20.3% | 7.6% | 22.3% | 31.2% |
| Neutral | 16.5% | 10.8% | 23.9% | 17.0% |
| Disagree | 32.9% | 51.0% | 31.1% | 24.5% |
| Strongly disagree | 13.6% | 28.5% | 12.2% | 4.5% |
| I don’t know | 4.4% | 3.2% | 7.1% | 3.9% |
| Q.5 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “That China does not accept large numbers of immigrants and foreign workers undermines the argument that America needs immigrants and foreign workers to stay competitive.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 8.9% | 5.8% | 10.6% | 9.6% |
| Agree | 22.9% | 13.2% | 23.5% | 29.4% |
| Neutral | 20.5% | 20.6% | 23.1% | 18.4% |
| Disagree | 30.4% | 37.4% | 27.1% | 28.3% |
| Strongly disagree | 10.7% | 17.5% | 9.8% | 6.1% |
| I don’t know | 6.6% | 5.4% | 5.9% | 8.2% |
| Q.6 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “That many high-skilled immigrants cannot succeed in their homelands suggests that they may not be as highly skilled as claimed.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 5.6% | 2.3% | 3.5% | 9.6% |
| Agree | 14.3% | 6.6% | 11.0% | 22.4% |
| Neutral | 14.5% | 7.8% | 20.4% | 14.9% |
| Disagree | 44.6% | 51.0% | 46.3% | 39.4% |
| Strongly disagree | 17.3% | 29.2% | 15.3% | 9.6% |
| I don’t know | 3.7% | 3.1% | 3.5% | 4.1% |
| Q.8 The H-1B visa is a dual-intent visa, meaning holders can seek permanent residency while in the U.S. Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “Foreign workers should only come here to temporarily work, not to pursue citizenship. The H-1B work visa holders should be barred from pursuing citizenship.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 8.4% | 1.2% | 6.3% | 15.2% |
| Agree | 11.2% | 7.4% | 7.5% | 16.6% |
| Neutral | 13.4% | 7.0% | 18.8% | 14.3% |
| Disagree | 39.5% | 44.0% | 37.3% | 38.2% |
| Strongly disagree | 23.4% | 39.7% | 24.3% | 10.2% |
| I don’t know | 4.1% | 0.8% | 5.9% | 5.5% |
| Q.3 Which of the following best describes your opinion of this statement: | ||||
| “It is immoral to take skilled workers from developing countries that need them.” | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Strongly agree | 4.4% | 2.7% | 3.1% | 6.7% |
| Agree | 14.5% | 10.5% | 12.5% | 19.5% |
| Neutral | 28.0% | 28.0% | 35.3% | 22.2% |
| Slightly disagree | 26.3% | 31.9% | 24.3% | 23.3% |
| Strongly disagree | 23.2% | 24.5% | 18.0% | 25.7% |
| I don’t know | 3.7% | 2.3% | 6.7% | 2.6% |
That they had lower agreement does not mean that they do not have merit, however. Immigration is still a quick band-aid fix to low birth rates. Reduced patriotism among critical segments of the population is still a problem regardless of whether people want to confront it or not. That China is a rising superpower without foreign labor undermines the entire narrative. And the fact that Western countries are stealing the supposedly skilled workers of developing countries is still a useful way to dispel the moral sanctimony of immigration proponents.
3. Change in Attitudes
We concluded by asking respondents the two initial questions from the start of the poll to track if their attitudes had changed:
| Q.22 After taking this poll, which of the following best describes your opinion of the H-1B work visa program? | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Very positive | 4.1% | 8.9% | 2.7% | 1.7% |
| Positive | 36.4% | 50.2% | 31.8% | 29.7% |
| Neutral | 26.6% | 23.7% | 31.0% | 24.8% |
| Negative | 18.8% | 12.1% | 21.2% | 22.4% |
| Very negative | 10.7% | 2.3% | 8.2% | 18.7% |
| I don’t know | 3.3% | 2.7% | 5.1% | 2.6% |
| Q.23 The H-1B work visa program currently has a cap on the total number of work visas which can be granted. After taking this poll, do you think we should: | ||||
| Results by Party | ||||
| % All | Democrats | Independents | Republicans | |
| Abolish the cap on H-1B visas | 7.5% | 16.0% | 4.3% | 2.6% |
| Increase the cap | 18.4% | 28.4% | 18.8% | 10.8% |
| Keep the current cap | 32.8% | 29.6% | 34.1% | 34.4% |
| Decrease the cap | 21.4% | 13.2% | 22.7% | 27.1% |
| Abolish H-1B visas | 12.4% | 3.9% | 11.0% | 20.1% |
| I don’t know | 7.4% | 8.9% | 9.0% | 5.0% |
While there was a sharp drop off in those who had a very positive view of the H-1B visa program, the results were otherwise mostly unchanged.
4. Key Takeaways:
- There is overwhelming bipartisan support for reforming education and training if there really is a shortage of skilled workers in America.
- That employers are greedy and want to pay their employees less, if not outright abuse and exploit them, is the strongest argument against immigration and guest workers.
- 34.7% of white Republicans are in some form of agreement with the statement that “Many people who support immigration are motivated by racism against whites” compared to 27.6% only four months ago.
- While respondents are not ethno-nationalist or properly identitarian, they do understand that a country is something more than a sports team.
- Support for outright abolishing the H-1B visa program is low. But significantly raising the minimum salary and charging employers an annual fee for their H-1B workers would be an electorally popular reform to tackle the worst abuses of the program.
- There is ample support for moving away from traditional college degrees to allowing employers to use IQ and other aptitude tests.
- There is ample support for requiring companies that benefit from tariffs or subsidies to hire American workers on the grounds that Americans pay for them.
- Most respondents understand that the iron laws of supply and demand apply to immigration’s affects on housing and wages.
- That many jobs can be accomplished remotely is a strong argument against H-1B visas.