A new national survey released Friday found that more than three-quarters of voters support a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements.
In a new October survey of 1,000 registered voters nationwide, Wave Polling and Research found that 79% of registered voters support a path to citizenship for “unauthorized immigrants” who have lived in the U.S. for 10 years, pay taxes, and pass a background check. The 79% support includes 94% of Democrats, 73% of independents, and 64% of Republicans.
When respondents read an attack against amnesty, it cut support for citizenship by 16 percentage points. When they heard a rebuttal after the amnesty attack, it cut support for citizenship by 13 percentage points.
“A supermajority of the country is still in favor of the path to citizenship, according to our poll,” said G. Elliott Morris, CEO of the polling firm Wave Polling and Research, despite messaging against amnesty. “Even those people who never see the counterargument— they just get the attack support for citizenship is still 74% pro and 22% opposed.”
Just 35% of voters supported deporting all “unauthorized immigrants” in the U.S., and just 12% of voters nationally say there should be no path to citizenship at all.
The survey showed respondents 14 immigration policies for a new Congress to tackle, which they ranked as their highest and lowest priorities.
Deporting illegal immigrants convicted of a violent crime was the No. 1 priority, followed by investigations into ICE officers who have shot illegal immigrants and citizens on the streets, investigations of detention centers where people have died, and passing citizenship
for longtime illegal immigrants who pay taxes and pass a background check.
President Donald Trump’s embrace of aggressive deportation tactics has sparked backlash from voters who decide the fate of key battleground races this midterm election cycle. But Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar’s (R-FL) Dignity Act, offering some form of amnesty to illegal immigrants, has been largely rejected by the GOP.
The survey by Wave Polling and Research of 1,030 Florida registered voters showed that a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants who have lived in the U.S. for 10 years, pay their taxes, and can pass a background check was the second-highest priority behind deporting illegal immigrants convicted of a violent crime. The survey of 502 Pennsylvania registered voters also showed that the path to citizenship was the third-highest priority.
“My polling results suggest a level of urgency on the part of citizenship,” Morris said.
Morris also claimed that “disapproval of Trump’s handling of deportations, in particular, is very negative and has been negative all year.”
“The Republican Party is … drawing even with the Democrats on trust to handle immigration now, an issue that they have had a double-digit advantage on for at least a decade,” he continued. “That in particular, the sort of partisan trust on immigration, is a big change in public opinion, and there will be opportunities from that politically.”
Democrats look poised to take control of the House more so than the Senate. A Democratic House could launch investigations into ICE, which had 77% support among national voters, and investigations into detention contract corruption, which had 68% support.
Morris pointed to an anecdote of a Hong Kong immigrant woman from Kennett County, Missouri, who was arrested. The arrest of Carol, 45, whose legal name is Ming Li Hui, shocked her fellow town members, who were upset that a nonviolent illegal immigrant was targeted by the Trump administration.
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“Even the people who voted for Donald Trump, according to our polling and some of these anecdotes, did not want the level of enforcement that they’re getting,” he said.
The polling was conducted Sept. 30 through Oct. 5 and has a plus-or-minus margin of error of 3.4 points nationally, 4.4 points in Florida, and 5.6 points in Pennsylvania.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
