Rebekah L. Sanders

The Republic | azcentral.com

A majority of people living on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border are against building a wall between the countries, a proposal championed by Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump, according to a major bilingual poll released Monday.

The survey found:

86 percent of Mexican border residents and 72 percent of U.S. border residents oppose building a wall.

77 percent of Mexican border residents and 70 percent of U.S. border residents describe the issue as "not important."

69 percent of Mexican border residents and 59 percent of U.S. border residents believe the tone of the U.S. presidential campaign could damage relations with Mexico.

The poll surveyed 1,427 residents in April and May in seven pairs of "sister cities" stretching from California/Baja California through Arizona/Sonora to Texas/Tamaulipas. The margin of error was plus or minus 2.6 percentage points.

The poll was funded by three news organizations — Arizona State University’s Cronkite News, Univision News and the Dallas Morning News — and public crowdfunding.

Valdez: The serial killer on Arizona's border that everyone ignores

Our View: Ask border residents - we don't want a wall

The communities are already divided by border fencing and controlled ports of entry.

"I hope this poll serves as a bridge in bringing two countries closer by shining a light on the border, a vibrant, complex and often misunderstood region where people on both sides have more in common than the differences that are too often highlighted," Alfredo Corchado, a Cronkite News editor and former Mexico City bureau chief for the Morning News, said in a written statement.

The poll also showed that residents in neighboring border communities are deeply connected.

86 percent of Americans and 79 percent of Mexicans said they liked their neighbors on the other side of the border.

79 percent of Americans and 69 percent of Mexicans said their sister cities are "somewhat dependent" or "very much dependent" on each other.

76 percent of Americans and 85 percent of Mexicans favored allowing workers to cross the border to work and then return home.

Can Donald Trump build a border wall with Mexico? He'd have to tackle this

The poll reveals changes in attitudes over 15 years when compared with a previous poll, said Mike Baselice, president of Austin-based Baselice & Associates, which conducted the survey.

Border residents are less optimistic about the region than they were in 2001. The previous poll showed roughly 40 percent of residents on both sides of the border felt the region had improved, compared with less than 20 percent this year.

Mexico won't consider building Trump's 'absurd' wall, foreign-affairs secretary says

At border, Arizona voters not wild about building Donald Trump's wall