U.S. majority favors deporting illegal immigrants
Feb 21, 2013, 1:25 PM | Updated: 1:25 pm
A poll released on Wednesday indicates a high percentage of Americans feel illegal immigrants should be deported.
According to Yahoo News, over half of the U.S. citizens polled in a Reuters/Ipsos survey said that illegal immigrants should leave the U.S. and 23 percent polled in favor of deporting all illegal immigrants. Another 30 percent agreed on the side of deportation excluding a small minority.
Conversely, 5 percent said all illegal immigrants should be permitted to stay in America pending legal approval, while 31 percent believed all illegal immigrants should stay regardless. The poll surveyed 1,443 U.S. citizens over 18-years-old from Friday through Tuesday.
Ipsos pollster Julia Clark said the poll results mirror a number of other past surveys proposing the majority of Americans have not changed their position on the nation’s illegal immigration dispute.
“It’s not Americans’ views that are shifting. It is that the political climate is ripe for this discussion,” after the November election when Hispanics voted overwhelmingly in favor of Democratic President Barack Obama, she said.
“Democrats feel that the time is right to capitalize on their wins and Republicans feel that they had a bad blow and are eager to reach out to Hispanics,” she added.
This issue has directly resonated between both political parties. The illegal immigration debate has essentially resulted in utter division through Democrats and Republicans respectively, according to an alternative Reuters/Ipsos survey.
This particular poll showed that 75 percent of Republicans feel that all or a vast majority of illegal immigrants should face deportation. On the other hand, only 40 percent of Democrats agree that illegal immigrants should be deported.
