Nope. That was not a typo.
A new poll from Fox News finds that 68 percent of voters, including majorities of Republicans, Democrats, and Independents, say efforts to secure the border should be combined with reform of federal immigration laws by Congress. What do voters mean by reform of federal immigration laws? Sixty-eight percent “favor allowing illegal immigrants who pay taxes and obey the law to stay in the United States.”
In short, voters want a “both/and” approach to immigration reform, which is the essence of comprehensive immigration reform. Here’s their short analysis:
While more voters think the government should secure the border first (21 percent) than pass new immigration laws (7 percent), most — 68 percent — say both should be done at the same time. That includes majorities of Democrats (72 percent), independents (67 percent) and Republicans (65 percent).
The Fox poll also found that “a 61 percent majority of voters think it is ‘impossible to seal the border’ so there will always be illegal immigrants…. About two-thirds of voters (68 percent) favor allowing illegal immigrants who pay taxes and obey the law to stay in the United States, little changed from 67 percent who favored doing so in 2007.”
Let’s compare that to polls that were conducted by CNN in May and July that presented an “either/or” choice.