PRRI did a poll covering a number of issues but featured immigration. It wrote in summary, “American attitudes about immigration policies have grown more conservative; nationally, those trends are driven primarily by Republicans and independents adopting more conservative views in recent years.”
the poll results showed that 34% of Americans say that immigrants entering the country illegally today are “poisoning the blood of our country,” including 61% of Republicans, 30% of independents, and 13% of Democrats. White evangelical Protestants (60%) are the only religious group among whom a majority agree that immigrants entering the country illegally are poisoning the blood of the country.
Donald Trump said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country” on October 4, 2023, during a rally in New Hampshire.
Other instances of using the phrase “poisoning the blood” of a selected and protected native population are:
Nazi Germany: Joseph Goebbels, Hitler’s Minister of Propaganda, frequently spoke of “Jewish blood” as a “poison” to German society, aiming to stoke antisemitic fervor.
United States: During the early 20th Century decades, Madison Grant, an influential American eugenicist, advocated for racial purity, saying that immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe would “contaminate” or “poison” the American stock. His 1916 book, The Passing of the Great Race, became a significant influence on immigration restrictions in the U.S., especially the Immigration Act of 1924.
South Africa: Politicians like Dr. Hendrik Verwoerd, a leading architect of apartheid, said such racial mixing was dangerous to the “racial health” of South Africans.
Hungary: Viktor Orbán, Hungary’s Prime Minister, has used rhetoric about preserving “Hungarian blood” and protecting the country from the “infiltration” of migrants, framing immigration as a threat to Hungary’s ethnic and cultural fabric.