# How many Americans actually want a wall? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 9, 2017, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126 "2017-04-09T19:40:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/21 "2017-04-10T02:29:18Z")
> [@kopek](#): > > I’m totally meh on the whole discussion by now; I’ll save my few remaining gray cells for actual immigration reform. Build it or not, I just don’t care anymore. This is sort of the entire problem with this administration. It’s hard to keep up with the latest folly. ---
**Author:** ![Moriarty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moriarty/32/49_2.png) [@Moriarty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Moriarty)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/22 "2017-04-10T02:32:40Z")
No discussion is complete without acknowledging that a border wall already exists. It is limited to the navigable part of the border, but it is there. [https://www.google.com/amp/relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/2017/01/what-the-us-mexico-border-actually-looks-like](https://www.google.com/amp/relay.nationalgeographic.com/proxy/distribution/public/amp/2017/01/what-the-us-mexico-border-actually-looks-like) ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/23 "2017-04-10T02:35:30Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > The problem is much easier to solve than a literal wall and always has been. All you have to do is fine employers of them including household staff like maids and nannies up to prison time for executives that engage in it on a large scale. That would make the demand go away. Of course. But your mistake is in thinking that anyone with an iota of economic power in this country actually wants to stop illegal immigration. They don’t. They can’t afford to, without losing their profits paying citizens and legal immigrants. They (not the crowds at the rallies, but the people who actually make these decisions) want the wall because it won’t stop illegal immigration. It will make them lots and lots of money building it, but it won’t stop illegal immigration. They’d never do things that would \*actually \*effectively stop it. Slow it, sure. They don’t think they need as many as are here. But stop it? Heaven forfend. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/24 "2017-04-10T02:36:20Z")
I support getting tougher on illegal immigration, but a physical wall across the border is a silly, expensive, unnecessary way of doing it. If you want to stop illegal immigrants, you crack down on the people who hire them. If you won’t do that, you’re not serious. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/25 "2017-04-10T02:39:50Z")
China built a wall 1000’s of years ago, and it didn’t work so well then and they have moved on to current things like a program to get men to the moon and or mars. The US after successfully going to the moon is now reverting, trying to build a wall. Doesn’t speak so highly of us. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/26 "2017-04-10T02:47:40Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I support getting tougher on illegal immigration, but a physical wall across the border is a silly, expensive, unnecessary way of doing it. > > If you want to stop illegal immigrants, you crack down on the people who hire them. If you won’t do that, you’re not serious. Yeah… [that worked out so well in Alabama](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-alabama-idUSBRE84T16P20120530). But I agree, building a wall is just stupid. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/27 "2017-04-10T02:48:26Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > The problem is much easier to solve than a literal wall and always has been. All you have to do is fine employers of them including household staff like maids and nannies up to prison time for executives that engage in it on a large scale. That would make the demand go away. > > All of this is a smoke-screen though. The only thing that is clear is that immigration policy in the U.S. is hopelessly broken and needs to be completely revamped no matter matter what direction that takes. “The problem is much easier to solve” only in the sense of an equally unpalatable solution. The problem isn’t just that immigrants want to come here and are willing to work for low wages to do so. It is that there is an actual gulf in the available legal manual construction and agricultural labor that could not be filled with citizens and the current legal immigration process at any workable wage scale. Home builders are literally struggling to find enough labor to keep up with construction demands even in a still overstaturated real estate environment, nobody is going to pay $20 per pound of strawberries picked by liberal arts college graduates expecting to make a “living wage”. There would be the same problem on the high end in software and other technical industries if the immigration policies were not more liberal toward high tech workers and companies were not happy and willing to pay for expedited work visas and legal fees just to keep their bullpens staffed up. Building a wall to stop immigration–even if practicable, which it is not–would have three consequences: reducing tax revenues paid by employers and consumers; squeezing the labor market resulting in reduced productivity and artificially increased prices for staple items up to what the market will tolerate; and curtailing population growth necessary to maintain a stable economy in the long term. It also cuts down the next generation of semi-skilled trade workers that we already have a dearth of most “real Americans” feel entitled to a college degree and a corporate job rather than learning a value-added trade. As you say, immigration policy in the US is broken beyond a simple fix, and we need to take the longer and broader view to the value of immigration which, after all, built this country into the industrial powerhouse it became in the 20th Century. We need to recognize that the hypothetical threat of a handful of religious fundamentalists sneaking through the immigration system is less significant than not being able to construct buildings or provide a sufficent economic tax basis for the population of future retirees expecting to collect Social Security and is less of a hazard per capita than injuries and deaths due to car accidents, dog attacks, or drowning in one’s own bathtub. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![boytyperanma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@boytyperanma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/boytyperanma)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/28 "2017-04-10T02:51:42Z")
I’d say the amount of people that want a wall that didn’t vote for Trump is minimal. There are a number of people who voted for Trump that don’t want a wall. The wall is less popular than Trump, who failed to get a majority of voters. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/29 "2017-04-10T03:44:01Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I can seriously imagine him telling us that he’d been talking about building a metaphorical wall the whole time and that only idiots would think he was being serious. And his supporters will go along with it because they won’t want anyone to think they are an idiot. Clearly you think he was speaking of some kind of Great Wall of China as if he was promising a chicken in every pot. It was obviously metaphorical on some level. It means he intends to secure the border to reduce illegal immigration. whether that involves extending the 700 miles of wall already built during the last administration or using other technologies such as drones is not relevant. What is relevant is the promise to reduce the illegal flow of aliens into the US. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 10:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/30 "2017-04-10T10:19:55Z")
There may be some locations where an improved out added barrier make sense, but that should pass a rigorous cost-benefit analysis. ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/31 "2017-04-10T11:41:32Z")
> [@Magiver](#): > > Clearly you think he was speaking of some kind of Great Wall of China as if he was promising a chicken in every pot. It was obviously metaphorical on some level. It means he intends to secure the border to reduce illegal immigration. whether that involves extending the 700 miles of wall already built during the last administration or using other technologies such as drones is not relevant. The dissembling has already begun, folks. Watch out. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/32 "2017-04-10T12:00:39Z")
More than anything else, I am concerned about what such a wall would do to wildlife migration. What about all the (non-human) animals that need to migrate to and from their hunting, feeding, nesting, breeding, and seasonal grounds? What about endangered species? To heck with the humans. They voted for Trump or couldn’t be moved to vote against him, so they deserve whatever they get. ---
**Author:** ![BlankSlate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blankslate/32/80_2.png) [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/33 "2017-04-10T13:14:47Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > The dissembling has already begun, folks. Watch out. [Yeah, the fuckhead meant an actual wall.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSpZxYFnZ1E) He described the actual, physical, coast to coast border wall dozens of times to his mewling supplicants. I suppose we should be thankful that his apologists are trying to spin this into a metaphorical wall. It’s just so utterly fantastic to have a president whose every utterance contradicts some other puddle of diarrhea falling out of his mouth. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/34 "2017-04-10T13:25:34Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > a poll on the Dope is not going to be indicative of the country at all. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![ZPG\_Zealot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e47c2d/32.png) [@ZPG\_Zealot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZPG_Zealot)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/35 "2017-04-10T13:37:06Z")
> [@monstro](#): > > I can seriously imagine him telling us that he’d been talking about building a metaphorical wall the whole time and that only idiots would think he was being serious. And his supporters will go along with it because they won’t want anyone to think they are an idiot. Or he will claim that it’s a special magical wall that only those who truly competent in their jobs can see. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/36 "2017-04-10T13:52:24Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > Trump’s followers would believe him. But his backers expect a twenty billion dollar government contract to build a five billion dollar wall. Your numbers are ludicrously low. Assuming we’re literally talking about a huge, guarded, practically impassable wall that covers every mile of the border not currently walled and guarded, $20 billion is a crazy low number. The 2006 “fence” cost something like three billion dollars, and that was for a fence that only went across the easiest parts of the border to build on. I would guess the initial construction would be at least fifty billion dollars, and it might be much higher. I am also being quite generous in my assumption that the wall would not actually be as elaborate as Trump’s most elaborate descriptions, which have included claims that the wall will be ten stories high, equipped throughout its length with underground sensors, and continuously guarded. If one makes those assumptions, the wall could quite conceivably cost half a trillion dollars, with correspondingly enormous ongoing costs. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/37 "2017-04-10T14:00:19Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Yeah… [that worked out so well in Alabama](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-immigration-alabama-idUSBRE84T16P20120530). > > But I agree, building a wall is just stupid. That article says employers have not yet been targeted. In articles like that one, farm owners either say that don’t care that they hire illegals or it’s too hard not to (sometimes both). Building a wall doesn’t address that. People want super cheap vegetables and farm owners still need a profit. Building a wall doesn’t address that. Lots came here initially legally and stuck around. Building a wall doesn’t address that. They come by boat, or by way of Canada. Building a wall doesn’t address that. It’s just SO fucking stupid. It’s trying to fix a problem that doesn’t really exist, AND it won’t actually work. I really hope he just hangs a “MISSION ACCOMPLISHED” banner on some fresh chain link fencing and go plays another round of golf. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/38 "2017-04-10T14:38:23Z")
> [@BlankSlate](#): > > [Yeah, the fuckhead meant an actual wall.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSpZxYFnZ1E) He described the actual, physical, coast to coast border wall dozens of times to his mewling supplicants. He also seems to have even less grasp of direction than [Rudy Giuliani](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DbP7qu2s_gw). Does Trump think that smugglers build their tunnels in the shape of [Krazy Straws](http://www.krazystraws.com/)? Was he trying to start some hip new dance craze? Is he just trying to distract the audience from the size of his fing…no, too easy, way too easy. Stranger ---
**Author:** ![doorhinge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a5b964/32.png) [@doorhinge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doorhinge)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/39 "2017-04-10T15:18:16Z")
If it’s the intention to keep illegal aliens out of the U.S., they need to fine/arrest employers for hiring undocumented illegal aliens. A wall would make it more difficult for drug traffickers, terrorists, rapists, and other violent criminals (especially those repeat offenders) to enter the U.S.A… ---
**Author:** ![PastTense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pasttense/32/14550_2.png) [@PastTense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PastTense)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2017, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126/40 "2017-04-10T16:14:46Z")
Why are you people talking about the tens of billions of dollars it would cost to build the wall and that the majority of the population don’t want to pay for it? This is of no concern, since Trump has already told us many, many times that Mexico is going to pay for it! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-americans-actually-want-a-wall/784126.md?page=3)