A new poll by Quinnipiac University finds near-majority support for a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants among Republican voters.
Given a menu of three options for how to handle immigrants residing in the country illegally, 47 percent of Republicans preferred letting them stay and eventually apply for citizenship, versus just 10 percent who preferred letting them stay without the chance to become citizens. 36 percent said they should be required to leave.
Overall, 59 percent of respondents said they support a path to citizenship, versus 11 percent who supported legal status short of citizenship, and 25 percent who preferred deportation.
As TPM noted yesterday, the wording of questions on the citizenship question appears to have a signifcant impact on polling. Polls that ask the more narrow question of whether voters support or oppose a path to citizenship rather than ask about the issue in the context of whether they prefer the policy to mass deportation tend to show lower support for citizenship.
Quinnipiac talked to 1,711 registered voters and the survey has a margin or error +/- 2.4 percentage points.
