NPR/Ipsos released a poll last week addressing American views on immigration. The bottom line is that more than half of Americans believe that there is an invasion taking place at our southern border and that it’s bringing in lots of deadly, illegal drugs. They’re probably thinking this because we’re on track to have more than 2 million totally unvetted illegal immigrants in this country just in 2022 because we’re hearing about massive drug busts, because cartels are optimizing this human drag, because lots of people are overdosing, and because Greg Abbott’s clever plan of shipping immigrants to D.C. and New York City is working. But to NPR and Ipsos, all these Americans are victims of misinformation.

So, here’s the top line from the poll:

Over half of American adults believe it is either completely or somewhat true that the U.S. is experiencing an invasion at the southern border, according to a new NPR/Ipsos poll. Moreover, half believe there is at least some truth to the view that migrants bringing fentanyl and other illegal drugs over the southern border are responsible for the increases of overdoses in the U.S.

Judging by reports, the Americans who have these beliefs, are correct:

• CNN: “US on track to encounter record 2 million migrants on the southern border, government estimates show.”
• Reuters: “Mexican security forces seize record fentanyl haul”—seized in Sinaloa, where cartels prepare it for America.
• CBS NEWS: “DEA administrator on record fentanyl overdose deaths and how cartels target Americans.”
• Axios: “Texas migrant buses overwhelm New York, Washington D.C.”

You noted, I hope, that none of the news sources I cited above is Fox News. The reports come from the mainstream media, not from any conservative news organizations. So, these are facts that may drive Americans’ perceptions that we are being overrun and it’s killing a lot of us.

Image: Border crisis. YouTube screen grab (from an NBC video entitled “Record-Breaking Two Million Migrants Encountered At U.S. Southern Border,” which carefully films only intact families or just mothers and children).

But that’s not how NPR/Ipsos see things. The report oozes contempt for people who would allow themselves to be misled into believing this kind of dreck:

“These statements, and others like them that were tested in this survey, shed light on how misleading information or politically charged rhetoric about immigration has taken root among a significant portion of the American public.”

“Many Americans report hearing misleading or politically charged information regarding immigrants and immigration policy.”

As the poll sees it, it isn’t just party affiliation (Republicans are more upset than Democrats, but Democrats are upset, too) driving these results, but also “their media consumption habits.” The problem, of course, is Fox:

Republicans who cite Fox News or other conservative news sources as their main news source are even more likely to believe this than Republicans who get their news elsewhere (91% vs. 71% of those who have a different primary news source).

[snip]

Half also believe it is at least somewhat true that migrants bringing fentanyl and other illegal drugs over the southern border are responsible for the increase in drug overdoses and deaths in the U.S. Here too, we see a partisan divide, with 70% of Republicans saying this is true, compared to 35% of Democrats and 45% of independents. Conservative news watching-Republicans are most likely to believe this (89%), compared to 64% of Republicans whose primary news source is something else.

This outcome may be because Fox News, whatever its other faults, is solid on reporting about Biden’s complete abandonment of America’s immigration laws.

So, here’s what I see: Fox reports daily on the breakdown at the border, the drug cartels using the open border to bring their products in, the drug deaths soaring across America, and the inability of self-identified sanctuary cities to deal with actual, rather than hypothetical, illegal aliens. Other news outlets offer the occasional story, with it being hit and miss whether their viewers/readers see those stories. So, the problem is real; it’s just that leftists, including NPR/Ipsos, have such limited exposure to the facts that they’re in complete denial.