A poll released Tuesday by the Public Religion Research Institute
shows that a large majority of Americans support a path to citizenship
for immigrants who are in the United States illegally. Amazingly, 51% of repugican voters are in favor of citizenship for illegal immigrants,
while another 17% support them receiving permanent legal resident
status. Democrats (70%) and independents (61%) show greater support for
citizenship. Overall, 62% of Americans are in favor of
providing undocumented residents of this country a way to become legal
citizens.
What is extremely interesting about this survey is that PRRI really drilled down into the details to
find the key factors and demographics surrounding support of
immigration reform. The ultimate findings are not all that surprising.
However, it is refreshing in that it reinforced the preconceived ideas
on who most opposes immigration reform and the possible reasons behind
the opposition. What PRRI found is that if a person trusts Faux News, is a tea party member or a white evangelical protestant, then support for a
pathway to citizenship is lower than that of other repugicans, and
definitely below that of the average American voter.
Only 42% of repugicans who trust Faux News as their
primary news source believe that immigrants here illegally should be
provided an opportunity to become American citizens. Meanwhile, 60% of repugicans who get their news from other sources support immigration
reform that leads to citizenship for undocumented workers. As for
independents that trust Faux News, only 48% of them support citizenship
while 66% of those who trust other sources of news media more are in
favor of giving these people an opportunity to be Americans. As a point
of comparison, 71% of Americans who most trust public television are in
favor of immigration reform.
When looking at different christian groups, the
survey found that white evangelical protestants were the only group
where the majority of people did not support a path to citizenship, with
48% stating they were in favor of it. Meanwhile, 58% of white mainline protestants, 62% of minority protestants, 63% of catholics and 57% of
white catholics all support giving illegal immigrants an opportunity to
become citizens. 68% of unaffiliated Americans support true immigration
reform. The tea party members are the ones most likely to oppose a path to
citizenship and support full deportation of people here illegally. Only
37% support a path to citizenship, with another 23% in favor of green
cards. Meanwhile, 37% said they would prefer that all people in this
country illegally be deported.
PRRI wrote the following when discussing the greatest independent predictors for support and opposition to immigration reform:
- The two most powerful independent predictors of support for a path to citizenship are being young (under 30 years of age) and identifying as Hispanic. Holding a four-year college degree, being female, identifying with the Democratic Party, and most trusting MSNBC as an accurate news source are also significant predictors of support for immigration reform.
- In contrast, trust in Faux News as an accurate news source is the most powerful independent predictor of opposition to a path to citizenship. Identifying as repugican and being a born-again christian are also significant predictors of opposition to immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship.
While Faux News, and other wingnut media
outlets, might be hammering the idea that immigration reform will lead
to the destruction of the fabric of this nation, it appears that the
message isn’t taking hold. Sure, tea partiers and loyal Faux News
watchers appear to be taking to the message, but not in the overwhelming
numbers that you’d figure. At the same end, the majority of repugican
voters are in favor of giving people here illegally a chance to become
American citizens. As is always the case, Faux News is on the wrong side
of history.
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