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Center for American Progress: Public Strongly Backs Immigration Reform

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The Center for American Progress has a great snapshot of public opinion on immigration today. The piece begins:

There’s no doubt the politics of immigration reform are very complicated and that getting a bill through Congress will not be easy. But it’s important to be clear that the public is quite supportive of immigration reform, especially reform that is comprehensive and does not simply focus on punitive measures. This has been true of the public for some time and a new Benenson Strategy Group poll for America’s Voice demonstrates that it is still true today.

That’s right, when it comes to public opinion on immigration, the numbers have it. According to the latest research, a whopping 87 percent of people support three of the major elements of comprehensive immigration reform, which includes creating a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who register with the government, meet requirements, pay taxes, and study English.

In addition, when asked push-button questions on immigration, most Americans respond that we’d be better off turning unauthorized immigrants into full taxpayers, instead of sending them home to free up jobs for Americans (the argument many anti-immigration pundits are making). Check out the chart:

View the rest of their snazzy graphs here.