Asked in a national Rasmussen/Harris poll, conducted November 27-28, 2018, whether Congress should “pass comprehensive federal immigration reform to secure our borders and resolve the status of illegal immigrants already living in the country,” 75 percent of respondents said “yes,” 7 percent said “no,” and 17 percent said “not sure.”
The poll also found that 81 percent of voters nationwide believe that legal immigration is good for America, while 80 percent of voters believe that illegal immigration is bad for America. Men and women, left and right were in surprising agreement.
The largest gap among voters was over which should be done first. Asked if it was more important to stop illegal immigration than to resolve the legal status of illegal immigrants already living in the country, 52 percent said “stop illegal immigration” while 48 percent said “resolve legal status of immigrants already living in country.” Yet the gap may have been partially a result of the way in which the question was presented.
We used a split sample approach to measure support for the concept of comprehensive immigration reform that would secure our borders and resolve the status of illegal immigrants already living in the country. When border security was mentioned first, 75% were in favor of the concept. When legalization was mentioned first, 67% supported it. [emphasis added]
Clearly a strong, solid majority of American voters want Congress to fix the immigration mess. There’s no excuse for Congress dragging its feet.