“If they need socks, I give them socks. If they need a hot meal, I give them a hot meal,” Cameron, who lives in Weymouth, said of the new migrants. “But we cannot continue to take on the problem. We can’t take care of our own people.”
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She isn’t alone. In Massachusetts, where a full-on housing crisis has put homeownership increasingly out of reach, a plurality of voters like Cameron believe new arrivals are taking up affordable housing that should go to American citizens first, a new Suffolk University/Boston Globe poll shows.
The poll, which surveyed 500 likely voters in Massachusetts, found that nearly half — 48 percent — of respondents say new arrivals to the United States are contributing to the state’s housing crisis, putting a strain on the supply of affordable housing. It was even more acute in Suffolk County, where more than half of likely voters expressed this view.
At the same time, many of these same Massachusetts voters feel sympathy for the plight of the new arrivals, with majorities saying the state should offer them shelter, health care, and other help, albeit in a limited scope, the poll found. A strong majority — 72 percent — said Massachusetts should offer new migrants temporary shelter for at least a short time; a smaller majority believe the state should go even further, and help migrants get on their feet with a year or two of subsidized housing.
All together, these new poll results — the deepest dive into Massachusetts voters’ opinions on the topic that the Globe has ever conducted — paint a conflicted picture of a population that believes the state should still support the migrant population, but worries about what it means for their own ability to access services and afford rent.
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The issue is a messy one, and the poll results throw into sharp relief how the issue has come to roost in Massachusetts, which has long been a standard-bearer for welcoming migrants and supporting the homeless.
David Paleologos, director of the Suffolk University Political Research Center, said outside of the housing market, there appears to be at least one other “pinch” point where residents say they see the impact of new arrivals: in schools.
About 39 percent of respondents believe migrants have had a negative impact on their local public schools, outpacing those who believe they’ve had a positive or no effect. And yet, a vast majority — 71 percent — also agreed that the state should hire more bilingual education teachers to help migrant students learn English.
“What Massachusetts voters are saying is . . . you can’t have all of these new people without there being a cost,” Paleologos said.
That said, he added, voters don’t believe it justifies not helping migrant families, either. For one, he said voters appear “jolted” by Governor Maura Healey’s decision to put a five-day limit on overflow shelters stays: Nearly 43 percent said the limit was “too strict,” well ahead of those who thought it was not strict enough or about right.
Asked whether the state should withhold all help from new migrants, most rejected that sentiment. More than 70 percent said they somewhat or strongly disagree.
“It’s an over-simplistic view that our housing crisis is being created by those who are being redirected here,” said David M., a 45-year-old unenrolled voter from Natick who asked that he not be identified by his full name.
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On the housing front, those who feel migrants are depleting the supply of affordable housing skew heavily Republican, older than 50, and white or Latino. There’s a similar breakdown on schools: 84 percent of Republicans and 43 percent of independent voters said they thought migrant families were having a negative impact on their local schools. By contrast, just 17 percent of Democrats said the same.
Among those concerned about the consequences of the migrant surge is Seth Sole-Roberston, of Medway, whose parents immigrated to Massachusetts from Spain.
“I am no stranger to immigration,” said Sole-Roberston, 44, an unenrolled voter who works as a boat mechanic. He said, however, that the recent immigration wave “affects my wallet, and that hurts a lot.”
Those who are hurting financially tend to cast migrants as the problem.
Three-quarters of those who said their financial situation is worse than it was last year told pollsters that migrants are taking affordable housing from American citizens. And nearly two-thirds of those voters feeling worse off financially said they thought migrant families were having a negative impact on local schools.
“They are taking up housing in Medway, which has limited housing to begin with. The state is paying their way,” Sole-Roberston said. “Prices go up, there is less inventory, it’s a disaster.”
Sole-Robertson is also concerned about the impact on schools. He has five children in Medway public schools, ages 5 to 17, who he says have received less attention since children living in a nearby emergency assistance shelter in Milford joined their classrooms.
“I think we have so much going on here right now that we cannot afford to pay for any other people that should not be here,” he said “Any sort of sanctuary law is an attraction to these people.”
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He, like a decent chunk of voters, doesn’t hold Healey solely responsible for the current situation in Massachusetts. Half of likely voters blamed either Congress or the Biden administration over others such as Healey, foreign governments, or the migrants themselves, according to the poll.
While the poll revealed many Massachusetts voters struggling with conflicted feelings when it comes to migrants, it also highlighted a smaller but notable swath of residents who view the issue through a more extreme lens, embracing drastic policy responses to the wave of new arrivals.
One third of likely voters, for instance, said they either strongly agree or somewhat agree with deporting all immigrants in the country without legal authorization, a position that former president Donald Trump has made the centerpiece of his reelection campaign, as underscored by the “Mass Deportation Now!” signs that dominated signs distributed at the Republican National Convention this summer.
And 28 percent of likely voters said the United States should end so-called birthright citizenship, the long-held right to American citizenship to anyone born in the country, guaranteed by the 14th Amendment to the US Constitution. Ditching it is a once-fringe idea that Trump championed during his time in the White House and has been increasingly embraced by GOP circles.
“It is taking advantage of a system that has holes in it,” said Paul Slaney, 62, of North Attleborough. Slaney, an unenrolled voter, works with a ministry that serves a homeless shelter in Fall River. He said he worries about the homeless Massachusetts residents who are US citizens and have a harder time accessing services due to increased demand from homeless migrants.
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“Right now, it’s a mess. No matter what you are hearing, no matter what side, it’s a mess,” he said. “I never thought I’d see things get as bad as they are right now.”
Samantha J. Gross can be reached at samantha.gross@globe.com. Follow her @samanthajgross. Matt Stout can be reached at matt.stout@globe.com. Follow him @mattpstout.