Poll: Support drops for pathway to citizenship

{mosads}The Quinnipiac University Poll released Thursday found that 52 percent of those surveyed think there should be a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living in the country illegally. That finding is a drop from a month earlier, when 59 percent of those surveyed by Quinnipiac said there should be a pathway to citizenship.

The poll’s findings come as Congress works to pass an overhaul of the country’s immigration reform system.

The most recent Quinnipiac poll also found that 30 percent of voters say that immigrants living in the country illegally should be required to leave — an increase of 5 percentage points from a previous Quinnipiac poll a month earlier.

Twenty-two percent of voters surveyed in the new poll said that a pathway to citizenship would increase the possibility of terrorism. But 66 percent said a pathway to citizenship would not change the likelihood of terrorism in the country. The finding comes a few weeks after the Boston Marathon bombing that resulted in three dead and more than 200 injured.

Law enforcement officials sought two brothers of Chechen origin in connection with the bombing. One brother was arrested and charged, while the other died during a shootout. Just 23 percent of voters in the Quinnipiac poll said that the bombing altered their opinion about a pathway to citizenship. Some opponents of immigration reform have warned that a pathway to citizenship could expose the country to more attacks like the Boston bombing. Proponents have quickly shot back that a pathway to citizenship would not increase the likelihood of terrorism.

The poll was conducted April 25 to 29 among 1,471 registered voters. It had a margin of error of 2.6 percentage points.