Most Americans favor granting Afghans who worked with US refugee status: poll

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - An overwhelming majority of Americans approve of granting refugee status to Afghans who aided the US prior to their country's violent takeover by the Taliban, according to a poll released on Monday.

A full 72% of Americans are in favor of granting refugee status to Afghans who "worked with the U.S. or Afghan governments during the war," according to the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs survey. Support is near identical along party lines with 76% of Democrats agreeing to the proposal, compared to 74% of Republicans.

But when asked about granting refugee status to "other people who fear living in Afghanistan under Taliban rule," support dramatically drops to 57% of Democrats, and just one-in-four Republicans.

Turning to US President Joe Biden's withdrawal of American forces from Afghanistan, roughly 45% of respondents said they "strongly/somewhat approve" compared to 39% who said they "strongly/somewhat disapprove." Fourteen percent said they "neither approve nor disapprove."

Support is strongest among Biden's fellow Democrats with two-thirds agreeing with the pullout. Just one-in-four Republicans followed suit.

The poll was conducted from Sept. 23-27 with 1,099 adults.