Poll: 4 in 10 Americans favor wall at Canadian border

WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- More than 40 percent of Americans favor a wall at the Canadian border if one is built at the Mexican border, a new poll indicates.

At the same time, some 80 percent of Americans express positive feelings about immigration, saying the U.S. economy has thrived because of new arrivals, the poll from Bloomberg showed.

The poll of 1,001 American adults comes as lawmakers and presidential candidates grapple with immigration, largely brought to the forefront by GOP front-runner Donald Trump and his incendiary comments about Mexican immigrants. It also comes after Pope Francis opened further rhetoric on the topic.

"As a son of an immigrant family, I am happy to be a guest in this country, which was largely built by such families," he said Wednesday.

Trump has called for a wall to be built at the Mexico-America border, something 41 percent of Americans support and 55 percent oppose; 56 percent disagree with a wall along the Canadian border, a notion that may have hurt failed Republican presidential candidate Scott Walker. He initially said the Canadian wall was worth additional study, but later clarified he did not support a physical wall along the more than 5000-mile border.

The sweeping poll also covered topics from abortion to foreign policy:

Campaign finance reform -- Nearly nine in 10 Americans want campaign finance rules changed so the wealthy don't have more influence than those without money.

Tax code changes -- Some 73 percent of Americans agree they'd like changes to the code the wealthy pay proportionally.

Foreign policy -- About 54 percent of Americans agree that since the Iranian nuclear deal is done, it's "better to strongly enforce it to make it better than to rip it up."

Refugees -- Americans are divided, with 49 percent saying the U.S. should take in Syrian refugees as a humanitarian act, while 46 percent disagree.

Abortion: Nearly 60 percent of Americans oppose cutting federal funding to Planned Parenthood. Asked whether all abortion should be illegal, "even in the case of rape, incest, or to protect the life of the mother," 76 percent of Americans disagree.

The poll, conducted from Sept. 18 to 21 by Iowa-based Selzer & Co, has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.