Immigration Poll: Majority Of Voters Support Pathway To Citizenship

[marmar]

WASHINGTON -- A majority of voters support immigration reform that would give a pathway to citizenship to undocumented immigrants, bolstering the idea that such a bill could be viable politically, according to a poll released Friday by bipartisan polling groups.

As the White House and Congress begin to work on a bipartisan immigration reform plan, the issue of citizenship is likely to become a major sticking point, and reform advocates are hopeful that polling such as this -- conducted by the Democratic-leaning Hart Research Associates and Republican-leaning Public Opinion Strategies -- could help in the effort. America’s Voice Education Fund, SEIU and the National Immigration Forum sponsored the poll.

The firms found that more than half of the 1,003 people they surveyed supported such a pathway, and a majority also said they wouldn't consider such a thing "amnesty" -- a word that has been used in the past to derail any effort toward dealing with the estimated 11 million people currently living in the United States without status.

Many Republicans argue that undocumented immigrants could be given legal status as part of reform but without a special avenue to become citizens, meaning many would either be unable to or be forced to wait for long periods. Most Democrats advocate for a long road to citizenship as well, likely with requirements such as fines and wait times, but say that policies specific to undocumented immigrants currently in the U.S. need to be part of a final package. .................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/18/immigration-poll-citizenship_n_2504930.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009