May 26, 2007 07:05 AM UTC

New York Times / CBS Poll shows wide support for immigration bill provisions

• 2 Comments
• by: Aristotle

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http://www.nytimes.c…

Some interesting findings after the jump…

As opponents from the right and left challenge an immigration bill before Congress, there is broad support among Americans – Democrats, Republicans and independents alike – for the major provisions in the legislation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

Taking a pragmatic view on a divisive issue, a large majority of Americans want to change the immigration laws to allow illegal immigrants to gain legal status and to create a new guest worker program to meet future labor demands, the poll found.

At the same time, Americans have mixed feelings about whether the recent wave of immigration has been beneficial to the country, the survey found, and they are sharply divided over how open the United States should be to future immigrants.

  Half of Americans say they are ready to transform the process for selecting new immigrants as proposed in the bill, giving priority to job skills and education levels over family ties to the United States, which have been the foundation of the immigration system for four decades.

Point by point, large majorities expressed support for measures in the legislation that has been under debate since Monday in the Senate.

Most of those polled agreed that illegal immigrants should eventually be allowed to apply to become American citizens. But 59 percent said illegal immigrants should be considered for citizenship only after legal immigrants who have played by the rules.[Emphasis added.]

Under the Senate bill, illegal immigrants would have to wait eight years before they could become permanent residents and at least 13 years to become citizens.

Two-thirds of Americans in the survey favored creating a guest-worker program for future immigrants. The bill would create a temporary-worker program in which immigrants would come for three stints of two years each, going home for one year between each stint and returning home for good after the third.

More than half of those who favored the guest-worker program said the workers should be allowed to apply to become permanent immigrants and eventually American citizens, if they maintain a strong work history and commit no crimes. [Emphasis added.} About a third of those who favored the program disagreed, saying guest workers should be required to return home after their temporary period…

Here’s the complete poll. Note: This is a lengthy document covering all kinds of NYT/CBS poll topics, but the immigration issues fall on pages 23-29. Questions include perceptions of immigrants legal and illegal such as Do they help or hurt the economy? (More said hurt.) Do they take jobs away from Americans or do the jobs they won’t do? (Split results.) Do they contribute or cause problems? (More said cause problems.)

A lot of food for thought.

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