WASHINGTON (AP) – Americans appear open to a softer immigration policy than Republican presidential candidates have preached in the past. Even a majority of Republicans in the country can see themselves voting for someone who would protect millions of immigrants from deportation, according to a new poll.
The Associated Press-GfK poll finds that Republicans overwhelmingly want a candidate to reverse President Barack Obama’s unilateral action to postpone deportations. But most could see themselves voting for someone who would keep that policy in place.
The poll was conducted before Democrat Hillary Rodham Clinton’s effort this week to magnify the difference between letting people who are in the country illegally have legal status, which some Republicans support, and letting them gain citizenship, which she supports. The poll suggests that people don’t see much difference.
“This country has always had open doors,” said Dean Talmadge, a Republican from suburban Seattle. “I don’t just have a problem with immigration, as long as they are here, working and following the rules.”
That’s a sentiment shared by most Americans, who according to the poll, favor a path to citizenship by 53 to 44 percent. It did not make a significant difference if respondents were asked instead whether they supported a path to legal status short of citizenship: 50 percent said they favored it and 48 percent opposed.