As voters go to the polls today to vote in the “Super Tuesday” democratic presidential primary, many of those voters could be immigrants. More than 23 million US immigrants will be eligible to vote in the 2020 presidential election, a record high, according to a Pew Research Center report based on Census Bureau data. The report, released last Wednesday, notes that the size of the immigrant electorate has nearly doubled since 2000 with immigrants making up roughly 10% of the nation’s overall electorate. The report notes that most immigrant eligible voters are either Hispanic or Asian with immigrants from Mexico making up the single largest group with sixteen percent of foreign-born voters.
The increase in immigrant voting population coincides at a time when immigration policy issues are a key consideration for many voters. "Many of the administration's proposed policy changes, such as expanding the U.S.-Mexico border wall and limiting legal immigration, have generated strong, polarized reactions from the public," the Pew Research Center says. "These proposals may also affect how immigrants see their place in America and the potential role they could play in the 2020 presidential election.”