In a Gallup poll taken in late June, before S.744 passed in the Senate, a survey asked American adults if they would vote for or against several proposals made by the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill. Surprisingly, the poll showed that the majority of Americans would vote for all of the six main proposals included in the survey.
Then, the poll broke up the results by political party: Democrat, Republican, or Independent. The majority of Democrats and Independents surveyed answered that they would vote for all of the proposals in the survey. Shockingly, the majority of Republicans polled would vote for 5 of the 6 proposals. The 6thproposal, to allow employers to hire immigrants if they could not find qualified Americans for the job, had a close 48% approval. 86% of Republicans said that they would vote for a policy to allow the illegal immigrants currently in the United States to become citizens if they met certain criteria.
Another Gallup poll taken last week asked Americans how important Immigration Reform is to them. For the majority of adults answered that it is very important to them. The results were later broken down by race and age. They were also asked if preference for visas should be given to highly skilled workers, or family members, with the results closely divided.
The polls demonstrate that there is a lot of public support for immigration reform, including giving legal status to illegal immigrants already in the U.S. A path to citizenship is what is currently barring republicans in the House of Representatives from putting the bill up for a vote. However, most Americans and Republicans support a path to citizenship. After all, the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill was written by both Democrats and Republicans and is seen by many as a compromise that includes important laws that both political parties asked for.
Should this be enough reason for House Republicans to take on the Comprehensive Immigration Reform bill? Share your opinion in the comments! To see the survey results for yourself, click on the links below!
http://www.gallup.com/poll/163169/immigration-reform-proposals-garner-broad-support.aspx
http://www.gallup.com/poll/163475/passing-new-immigration-laws-important-americans.aspx