• By
  • Laura Meckler
Edwin Gustavo Sotillo Varga, 51, of Peru, waves an American flag during a naturalization ceremony administered by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, Thursday, June 5, 2014, in Miami.
Associated Press

Support for immigration legislation that includes a chance for citizenship for illegal immigrants remains strong, but the issue is not a priority for most voters, a new poll finds.

“Given how polarized our current political environment is, one of the things that stands out is this is a major issue in the country where there is actual agreement across partisan and religious lines. That’s something exceedingly rare in the country today,” said Robert Jones, chief executive of the Public Religion Research Institute, a nonpartisan group that conducted the survey with the Brookings Institution, a Washington think tank.

Overall, the survey suggests strong support for immigrants measured in terms of economics, culture or public policy. In some cases, support has grown in recent years.

Overall, 62% of people agreed that people in the U.S. illegally should be allowed to become citizens if they meet certain requirements, and another 17% would allow them legal status but not citizenship. Just 19% said they prefer to “identify and deport them.”

And the poll found 68%  of people favored allowing illegal immigrants brought to the U.S. as children legal status if they join the military or go to college.

In 2013, 36% of people said that illegal immigrants mostly help the economy by providing low-cost labor, while 56% said they hurt the economy by driving down wages for many Americans. But when the same question was asked this year, respondents were evenly divided.

“There is a shift here in how people are perceiving immigrants in the country,” Mr. Jones said.

In addition, 58% of people agreed that “the growing number of newcomers from other countries strengthens American society,” vs. just 37% who said “the growing number of newcomers threatens traditional American customs and values.”

At the same time, just 26% of people said “reforming the nation’s immigration system” should be “the highest priority” for President Barack Obama and Congress. That puts it behind “improving the jobs situation,” dealing with “the moral breakdown of the country,” reducing the budget deficit and reducing health costs. Immigration measured stronger urgency on only one issue tested–enacting legislation to address climate change.

Those results help explain why House Republicans have stalled on considering immigration legislation. They had said they want to tackle the issue, but also know it is not a priority for most Americans. The Democratic-controlled Senate passed a sweeping immigration bill last summer.

Among the general public, Democrats enjoy only a modest advantage when asked which party they trust most on handling immigration. Forty-six percent said Democrats, up from 39% in 2013, and 33% said Republicans, up from 29% in 2013. As the debate unfolded, the number who were undecided shrank.

The 2014 survey was conducted in April of 1,538 adults who had participated in a similar survey in 2013. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.3 percentage points.




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