The Public Religion Research Institute released the results of a poll yesterday showing that the great majority of Americans want to see immigration reform offering a pathway to US citizenship to undocumented immigrants.
Perhaps surprisingly, 51% of those who vote Republican want the undocumented immigrants to get the chance to become citizens, with a further 17% wanting them to be able to gain some kind of permanent legal resident status.
Less surprisingly, there was even more support for offering citizenship from those who vote Democrat, with 70% in favor; 61% of those who vote independent also agree with the idea. In total, 62% of American voters want to give undocumented US residents the chance to become legal citizens.
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the survey is that the Public Religion Research Institute delved into the details to discover the key demographics and factors that surround the support of immigration reform. While the results may not be overly surprising, they reinforce existing ideas about who is against it and why; for instance, Tea Party members, white evangelical Protestants and people who trust Fox News offer a lower amount of support to offering US citizenship than other Republicans, let alone the average American voter.
Just 42% of Republican voters who find Fox News trustworthy support reform, with Republican voters who get their news from other sources showing increased support of 60%.