New Pew poll on support for immigration reform shows big ideological differences.

[pampango]

Public support for creating a way for undocumented immigrants to gain legal status remains high. Currently, 71% say there should be a way for undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. to stay legally, if certain requirements are met. There has been no change in opinion on this question since March.


Conservative republicans are 30% less likely to support legalization than are liberal Democrats.

Support for legal status for undocumented immigrants varies widely, but majorities across nearly all groups say there should be a way for them to stay in the U.S. legally. For the most part, there has been little change in these views since May, but opposition to legal status has increased among conservative Republicans over the last month (from 34% to 44%).


And it is these most conservative teapublicans who will push the House to kill legalization and comprehensive immigration reform.

Democrats are more confident than Republicans or independents that significant new immigration legislation will pass this year: 59% of Democrats, compared with 51% of independents and 47% of Republicans say passage is at least somewhat likely this year. Hispanics (71%) and blacks (67%) are much more likely than whites (47%) to say this.


Unfortunately, I think republicans are more accurate here. The House is unlikely to pass anything.

A majority of Americans (55%) say that the number of immigrants entering the U.S. illegally is higher today than it was 10 years ago. Just 15% say the number is lower, while 27% say it is about the same. While immigration flows are difficult to measure, research from the Pew Hispanic Center has shown that the numbers of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. had declined by 2011 (the last year for which data is analyzed), from a high point in 2007; they have also shown that migration from Mexico has declined substantially in recent years.


It is unfortunate that public policy is being made in an atmosphere in which such a critical fact is under-recognized. The republican fixation with spending billions on border security would be better understood to be the insane policy that it is.

[LonePirate]

1. I don't think a 19 point difference between Dems and Reps is a noteworthy difference

Heck, even the 30 point difference between liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans is not that large. Choice and marriage equality typically expose wider ideological differences.

[pampango]

2. It's a 30% difference between liberal Dems and conservative repubs. The latter will kill this in the

House. Opposition to legalization among conservative republicans has been increasing rapidly. They are calling the shots in the leaderless House.