Poll: Nearly two-thirds of Americans believe illegal immigration is a serious problem

A recent poll revealed that 62 percent of Americans believe illegal immigration is a serious problem in the U.S.

The YouGov survey showed that 40 percent of the 1,500 adults polled find illegal immigration to be a very serious problem and 22 percent said it's a somewhat serious problem. Another 24 percent called it a minor issue while 6 percent weren't sure.

But similar to Congress, Americans are split when it comes to building the $5 billion border wall that President Donald Trump is seeking. Forty-three percent of the adults surveyed said they favor building a border wall, while 45 percent said they were opposed. The divisive issue has led to the partial government shutdown, which stretched into day 17 on Monday.

The internet-based poll was conducted Dec. 30 to Jan. 1. Respondents were selected from an opt-in panel using sample matching, a methodology for "selection of representative samples from non-randomly selected pools of respondents." The survey had a 2.9 percent margin of error.

What else did the survey find?

The research also showed that 31 percent have more trust in the Republican Party when it comes to border security while 29 percent said they trust Democrats more. Only 5 percent said they trusted both parties equally and 26 percent trusted neither party.

On the topic of immigration reform, 34 percent said they trusted the Democratic Party. Twenty-nine percent said they trusted Republicans more and 23 percent said they don't trust either party.

Nearly half or 49 percent of those surveyed believe President Trump needs to compromise with Congress on the border wall and 41 percent believe Democrats should compromise.

When asked about the government shutdown, 40 percent said Trump should accept less than $5 billion to fund the border wall so that the government can get back to work.

Nineteen percent of those polled said Democrats and Trump should agree to more than $1.6 billion but less than $5 billion to build the wall. But another 24 percent said the Democrats should agree to fund the full $5 billion.

How did this survey compare to similar polls?

A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll of 1,407 registered voters last month showed that 56 percent did not support building the border wall, compared to 44 percent who do approve, according to the survey provided exclusively to The Hill.

And 42 percent said the president "should not give in" on the issue, but 58 percent they believe Trump should withdraw his demands.

A Quinnipiac poll, also taken last month, found that 54 percent opposed the wall, compared 43 percent who approve. Similarly, 54 percent to 44 percent said they don't believe a wall is necessary to improve border security.

What does all this mean?

Basically, the survey showed that most Americans agree that illegal immigration is a problem but that there's very little agreement on how the problem should be resolved.