Public Views on Immigration Reform Underscore GOP’s Conundrum - East Idaho News
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Public Views on Immigration Reform Underscore GOP’s Conundrum

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Getty 090512 ImmigrationForm?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1364981538402iStockphoto/Thinkstock(NEW YORK) — Nearly six in 10 Americans support a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, but with Republicans firm in their opposition by a wide margin it presents a challenge for a party torn between reflecting the views of its base and seeking to broaden its appeal.

With negotiations in Washington proceeding, 57 percent in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll support the most contentious part of immigration reform, a process by which illegal immigrants may gain citizenship.  Two other elements — stricter border control and more visas for highly skilled workers — win broader backing, from 80 and 72 percent, respectively.

See a PDF with full results, charts and tables here.

Partisan and ideological divisions on a path to citizenship remain vast and essentially unchanged in recent months.  Democrats support the idea by a wide 73-25 percent; independents by a majority 58-39 percent.  Republicans oppose it, 60-35 percent — numerically a new low in support in three ABC/Post polls since last November, albeit just by 2 percentage points.

Similarly, 78 percent of liberals and 59 percent of moderates favor a citizenship process; that falls to 42 percent of conservatives, including 37 percent of “very” conservatives.

Tellingly, a path to citizenship is backed by 69 percent of nonwhites, including 80 percent of Hispanics and 67 percent of blacks — groups that overwhelmingly favored President Obama in his successful re-election campaign.  That falls to 51 percent of whites, who preferred Republican Mitt Romney by 20 points.

There’s also a sharp generational break in this poll produced for ABC by Langer Research Associates: Adults younger than age 40 — a group that decisively favored Obama over Romney in the election — back a path to citizenship by 67-30 percent.  Support drops to a bare majority, 51 percent, among those 40 and up, a majority of whom voted for Romney.

Those differences underscore the challenges facing Republican Party leaders: Stay loyal to the policy preference of their party faithful and core support groups including whites, older adults and conservatives, at the risk of clinging to an inadequate support base; or seek to appeal to groups such as Hispanics, younger adults and moderates, at the risk of alienating the party’s core.

Copyright 2013 ABC News Radio

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