New polling from Data for Progress finds that the citizenship proposals to be included by Senate Democrats in their human infrastructure package are overwhelmingly popular with Democrats, Independents and Republicans.
The question asked: “Do you support or oppose legislation that would create an earned path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, people who are contributing and working here legally due to war or natural disaster in their home countries, and farmworkers and other essential workers?”
The key findings:
- Overall: By 70 – 24%, voters support a path to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS holders, farm workers and essential workers.
- Support by party ID: Democrats support by 82 – 12%; Independents support by 75 – 17%; Republicans support by 53 – 40%.
- Intensity: 34% of voters strongly support the proposal; 14% strongly oppose the proposal.
As Crooked Media co-founder Jon Favreau tweeted: “70%! Immigration can be a divisive issue that Republicans use as a cudgel, but it’s important to remember that Democrats’ proposed policies for reconciliation are OVERWHELMINGLY popular.”The Data for Progress findings mirror those in other recent polls. In addition, new immigration polling from Gallup finds that over the past quarter century Americans have become increasingly pro-immigrant. Currently, Americans believe that immigration is a good thing rather than a bad thing by a 75-21% margin. Gallup has been asking this question since 1965 and these results are near record-high (see here for more).
According to Frank Sharry, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
The American people have been engaged in a fierce debate about immigrants and immigration for the past three decades. They have heard every argument from every angle, and, in the end, have reached a consensus. The overwhelming majority believe that immigration is good for America and that it’s time for Congress to recognize undocumented immigrants as the Americans they already are.
Democrats are gearing up to include pathways to citizenship in the Senate budget resolution expected to hit the Senate floor in August. This will make it possible to win a long-overdue breakthrough through a budget reconciliation process that depends on the pro-immigrant unity of Democrats, not the bad faith nativism of Republicans.
While some Beltway purveyors of conventional wisdom believe that immigration is a political winner for Republicans and a political loser for Democrats, evidence over the past four years of elections suggests just the opposite. After all, Trump nationalized the 2018 midterms and Republicans suffered the biggest midterm loss in history, and Trump ran on nativism in 2020 and lost to his proudly pro-immigrant opponent by 7 million votes.
On immigration, as on many other issues, the public is fed up with political gamesmanship. They want their elected leaders to enact solutions that change lives. If Democrats hang together and get this done, they will get the lion’s share of the credit. If they don’t, they will get the lion’s share of the blame.
This is the year. Democrats have an historic opportunity to keep their promises and deliver a popular solution strongly supported by Americans from across the political spectrum. They should seize it.
