Earlier this week, Long Island Wins, the Long Island Civic Engagement Table and pollster Harstad Strategic Research announced the results of a poll conducted of Long Islanders regarding immigration reform.
The results were overwhelmingly positive, with 80% of those surveyed saying they support immigration reform and a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants.
New polls conducted by our national allies are showing similar results. In fact, throughout 29 states, the poll results show that the public overwhelmingly backs the bipartisan immigration reform bill.
Republican-oriented pollster Harper Polling conducted the surveys in Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Nevada, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, and Wyoming. Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling conducted the surveys in Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Maine, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, and West Virginia.
“Public support for the bipartisan immigration proposal is both wide and deep,” said Brock McCleary, founder of Republican oriented Harper Polling. “The results indicate that immigration reform is poised to be a political winner for both Republicans and Democrats.”
“Whether it’s red states like Texas and Arkansas, purple states like Florida and North Carolina, or blue states like Illinois and Maine our polling on a path to citizenship all finds the same thing: strong bipartisan support,” said Tom Jenson, Director of Public Policy Polling.
Highlights of the findings include:
· Across the 29 states, an average of 67.76% of the likely voters polled said they strongly or somewhat support bipartisan immigration reform legislation being debated in Washington;
· 72% of those polled said they strongly or somewhat support a bill that includes a tough but fair path to citizenship like that in the Gang of Eight legislation;
· 57.38% of those polled are more likely to vote for an elected official who supports comprehensive immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship – compared to just 21.79% who would be less likely.
· An overwhelming 87.17% of those polled said it was very or somewhat important that the U.S. fix it’s immigration system this year.
A summary of the results can be found here.
