(04/24/12) -

Obama Trusted More than Romney to Handle Immigration in U.S.

Support for allowing illegal immigrants to eventually apply for citizenship has increased by eight points in two years.

The views of Americans on the question of amnesty for illegal immigrants have softened in the past two years, but many continue to believe that immigration has a negative effect in the United States, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.

The online survey of a representative national sample of 1,005 American adults also shows that respondents express more confidence in President Barack Obama to handle the immigration file than on prospective Republican nominee Mitt Romney.

Across the United States, more than half of respondents (54%) believe immigration is having a negative effect in the U.S., while one-in-four (25%) think it is having a positive effect.

In addition, two-in-five Americans (39%) would like to see the level of legal immigration decrease. Republicans are more likely to regard immigration negatively (66%) and to call for a reduction in the number of legal immigrants (45%).

More than half of Americans (54%) believe the more than 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States take jobs away from American workers, a view shared by 65 per cent of Republicans, 54 per cent of Independents and 46 per cent of Democrats.

When asked about what should be done about the status of illegal immigrants who are currently working in the United States, 41 per cent of Americans call for deportation, while 33 per cent back a “path to citizenship” and 16 per cent support the concept of a temporary work visa that would not lead to citizenship. Deportation is the preferred option for Republicans (56%) and Independents (40%), while almost half of Democrats (48%) endorse the “path to citizenship.”

Since May 2010, support for the notion of allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. and eventually apply for citizenship has increased by eight points (from 25% to 33%). However, at least two-in-five Americans have consistently argued that all illegal immigrants should be sent back to their countries of origin. The option that has lost the most ground with respondents is the temporary work visa, falling from 21 per cent in 2010 to 16 per cent this year.

Almost half of Americans (47%) express complete or moderate confidence in Barack Obama to implement the right policies to deal with the issue of immigration. The national rating for Mitt Romney on this file is considerably lower (29%).

Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)

CONTACT:

Mario Canseco, Vice President, Angus Reid Public Opinion
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com

Methodology: From April 5 to April 6, 2012, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 1,005 randomly selected American adults who are Springboard America panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 3.1%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region Census data to ensure a sample representative of the entire adult population of the United States. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.