Build a Wall with Mexico? Most Americans Will Pass, New Poll Finds John L. Micek - The Morning Coffee
go to original August 26, 2016

Campaigners to build a wall in front of Trump Hotel in New York (CCTV America)

Now that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has pivoted on his position on immigration twice in one week, a new poll provides some insight on what Americans really think about the hot-button issue.

A plurality of respondents (45 percent) to a new Pew Research Center poll say American policy should place equal emphasis on both border security and creating a path to citizenship to people who have entered the country illegally.

In separate interviews with Fox News and CNN this week, Trump seemingly retreated from, and then again embraced, his plan to deport the roughly 11 million people who illegally live in the United States.

The Wall Street Journal reported Thursday that the Republicans "mixed signals" on an issue that has defined his campaign could cost him core support.

Not quite three in 10 (29 percent) of respondents to the Pew poll prioritized creating a path to citizenship, while 24 percent said the focus should be on better border security.

His biggest image problem is that 60 percent of voters believe he is unqualified to be president.

Despite the divide, relatively few of the 2,010 adult respondents to the poll expressed negative views about undocumented immigrants. Seventy-six percent said undocumented immigrants were as hard-working and honest as U.S. citizens, while more than two-thirds (67 percent) said they were no more likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.

Critically for Trump, more than 6 in 10 respondents (61 percent) oppose his much-touted plan to build a wall along the American border with Mexico - a position that is little changed from last year.

While there is common ground, some sharply defined partisan divides over immigration remain.

Read the rest at PennLive

Related: Poll Shows Limits of Donald Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric (TIME)

Related: Obama to Evade Rules for Wealthy Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Testing Limits of Executive Immigration Powers (The Washington Times)

Related: The Disturbing Dawn of the Alt-Right: Donald Trump's the Leader of a Dark Movement in America (Salon)

Related: Linda Chavez: Trump Says Hello to ‘Gang of Eight’ Immigration Plan (Sun Times)

Related: Campaign 2016 Updates: Will Donald Trump's Pivot on Immigration Hurt Him with the GOP Base? (The Los Angeles Times)

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