According to the latest Reason-Rupe
poll, a majority of Americans (55 percent) support offering
legal residency and an eventual path to citizenship to unauthorized
immigrants currently living in the United States if they meet
certain requirements. This number is far higher if one says
immigrants help the economy: 73 percent favor residency and path to
citizenship. Americans who perceive immigration’s economic benefits
also support raising visa caps for high skilled and low skilled
future immigrants (52 percent). Overall, 40 percent of Americans
support raising visa caps for high skilled and low skilled future
immigrants.
In contrast 27 percent of Americans support deportation of
unauthorized immigrants. Among those who say immigrants hurt the
economy, a plurality (45 percent) support deportation, while 34
percent favor residency and a citizenship pathway. Americans
skeptical of immigration’s benefits are also 20 points less likely
to favor raising the visa cap for high-skilled and low-skilled
workers with only about 30 percent in support.
Overall, Americans are evenly divided over whether immigrants
grow (40 percent) or hurt (40 percent) the US economy; few (15
percent) believe it has no impact. A majority (52 percent) worries
immigrant take jobs away from native-born Americans, 42 percent do
not share this concern. These economic worries are highly
predictive of support for reform but may also be indicative of
individuals’ underlying feelings toward newcomers.
The Young and More Educated Perceive Immigration Benefits
with more education are more likely to perceive benefits from
immigration.
A majority of college graduates (53 percent) and those with post
graduate degrees (68 percent) share optimism of immigration’s
economic benefits, but a little more than a quarter of those with
high school diplomas share this view. Those with postgraduate
degrees are 17 points more likely to favor a path to citizenship
than high school graduates.
Majorities of millennials believe immigrants grow the economy,
but only about 35 percent of those aged 35 and older agree. Less
surprisingly, millennials are more likely to favor residency and
path to citizenship than those over thirty (60 percent to 53
percent).
White Americans are more skeptical of the economic benefits of
immigration. Forty-six percent of Caucasians think immigrants hurt
the economy and 60 percent say immigration takes jobs away from
native-born Americans. Latinos disagree: 56 percent say immigration
helps the economy and 59 percent say immigrants do not take away
jobs. African-Americans are in the middle: a plurality (47 percent)
say immigrants bolster the economy but 52 percent say they also
take jobs away from native-born Americans.
There are also regional disparities over whether immigrants
strengthen the economy. Americans in the Northeast and West are far
less concerned about the effects of immigration than are
Midwesterners and Southerners. Pluralities in the Northeast (48
percent) and West (43 percent) say immigrants bolster the economy
and are evenly divided over whether immigrants take away jobs.
However 57 percent of Midwesterners and 60 percent of Southerners
say immigrants take away jobs. A plurality of those in the Midwest
(45 percent) worry immigrants harm the economy, while the South is
evenly divided.
Read the full report here: Reason-Rupe Feb
2013 Full Immigration Findings
Nationwide telephone poll conducted February 21-25 2013
interviewed 1002 adults on both mobile (502) and landline (500)
phones, with a margin of error +/- 3.8%. Columns may not add up to
100% due to rounding. Full poll results found here. Full
methodology can be found here. A
full analysis of the poll’s immigration results can be
found here.
