More Than 6 in 10 Texans Oppose Trump's Border Wall Construction Plans: Poll

AUSTIN, TX — Given followers' vociferous chants of "Build that Wall!" heard during campaign appearances by Donald Trump that persist to this day, urging him to carry out his vow of erecting a barrier with Mexico, one would think it's a priority of his constituency.

It's not, at least not in Texas where the longest stretch of the border with Mexico is found. That's according to a poll by the nonpartisan Texas Lyceum nonprofit released on Tuesday.

According to the poll's findings, 61 percent of adults living in Texas oppose Trump's proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. Another 35 percent of Texas citizens in the survey favor constructing Trump's long-promised wall he has said would reduce illegal immigration into the U.S.

The poll also examined what residents feel about Trump's vow to aggressively crack down on immigration by deporting undocumented immigrants already here. Pollsters found 50 percent believe Trump will deport the millions of undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S., while 40 percent indicated they don't believe Trump would take that step.

The poll found 62 percent of Texans do not want Trump to deport undocumented immigrants, while 31 percent do want him to do that. There are roughly 11 million immigrants unlawfully living in the U.S. a number that has held steady since the end of the Great Recession, the Wall Street Journal reported. Meanwhile, the Mexican population continues to shrink, according to the report.

The Texas Lyceum poll further found that 58 percent of respondents disapprove of Trump's handling of both legal and illegal immigration overall, while 38 percent of Texans approve of his actions on that front.

Apart from its physical manifestation in separating humanity and marring the landscape, many oppose construction of the wall given its exorbitant cost—although estimates vary. According to an estimate found by CNBC, the cost to build the roughly 1,300-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border would be as high as $16 million per mile.

The Government Accountability Office, in a 2009 report, put the cost to build one mile of fencing at up to $3.9 million. But that was an exceedingly conservative figure based on only the first 220 miles that didn't take various factors into account, including topography, transportation logistics in harder-to-reach areas (i.e. road-building and earth and drainage work), labor costs, land acquisition costs and surveillance equipment, according to the CNBC report.

The upshot: The total price tag for the envisioned wall, with all its bells and whistles, is estimated to cost $15 billion to $25 billion.

Then there's the cost to provide maintenance on said wall. The U.S. government would have to spend as much as $750 million a year, according to an analysis conducted by Politico. Personnel stationed along the wall would require an operating budget of $1.4 billion for 21,000 agents, according to the report.

(Border wall fun fact: The Berlin Wall, which spanned just 96 miles comparatively cost about $25 million to build in 1961, or around $200 million with inflation.)

As reported in The Hill, reports surfaced last week the Trump administration so far has funding for only seven miles of the his suggested border wall. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency reportedly has $20 million to build the barrier, well below estimates needed for covering 1,000 miles along America’s southern border.

The Texas Lyceum surveyed 1,000 adult citizens in Texas via cell and landline telephone interviews from April 3-9. The poll has a 3.1 percentage point margin of error.

To read findings in the full Texas Lyceum survey, click here

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