Fully 72 percent of Americans think immigrants who set up home in the United States should learn to speak English.
That’s according to just-released poll results from Gallup — and the findings haven’t changed that much in the past 12 years, when the survey company first started asking the question.
Specifically, respondents were asked: “How important is it that immigrants living in the United States learn to speak English — is it essential, is it important but not essential, is it not too important, or is it not at all important?”
Seventy-two percent now say it’s essential, while 24 percent consider it important. In 2001, Gallup reported that 77 percent found it essential, compared to 19 percent important.
In the same poll, Gallup also asked: “How important is it that Americans learn to speak a second language other than English?” The same four categories of responses were given.
And for that question, 20 percent nowadays call it essential, compared to 19 percent in 2001. In 2013 and in 2011, exactly 50 percent considered that important.
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Gallup gathered this information from its annual Minority Rights and Relations poll, the latest of which was based on random telephone sampling of 4,373 adults, conducted June 13 through July 5. The margin of error for the total sampling was plus-or-minus 2 percentage points.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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