Poll: GOP swing districts back immigration reform

Likely voters in 20 swing districts currently represented by GOPers overwhelmingly support a path to citizenship

Published November 12, 2013 6:10PM (EST)

            (AP)
(AP)

A new poll of likely voters in 20 GOP-held swing districts finds large majorities in favor of a path to citizenship for current undocumented residents, according to the Huffington Post.

The poll was commissioned by FWD.us, Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook's pro-comprehensive immigration reform 501(c)(4) organization, and finds that nearly three-fourths — 76 percent — of polled respondents support a path to citizenship, with or without additional measures to secure the border. Fifty percent said any path to citizenship should further secure the border, while 26 percent said they'd support a path without any further border provisions.

Notably, 93 percent of the poll's respondents considered some legislative movement on immigration reform to be either "very important" or "somewhat important," and a full 77 percent said they'd prefer an imperfect solution over none at all.

More from the Huffington Post:

A majority of those polled voiced support for the general principles of comprehensive immigration reform plans. Eighty percent supported the E-Verify program to check whether would-be employees are legally authorized to work in the U.S., and 78 percent supported a provision to allow legal status for undocumented young people who came to the U.S. as children. Seventy-one percent of those polled supported an "earned pathway to citizenship." The poll found high support as well for increasing fines for employers who hire undocumented immigrants, upping border patrol and fencing, and allowing for more high-tech legal immigration.

[...]

The survey respondents were 39 percent Republican, 35 percent Democratic and 23 percent independent, with a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent


By Elias Isquith

Elias Isquith is a former Salon staff writer.

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