60 percent of Americans support eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants: poll

Sixty percent of Americans in a new poll back an eight-year path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants, a sign of support as Democrats try to push President Biden’s immigration plan through Congress.

According to the Politico/Morning Consult survey released Wednesday, 32 percent of registered voters “strongly support” an eight-year path to citizenship, while another 28 percent “somewhat support” one. Twenty-four percent oppose such a pathway, of which 14 percent oppose one “strongly.” Sixteen percent had no opinion.

The poll comes as Democrats face an uphill battle in moving Biden’s plan across the finish line.

Immigration has long been a third rail of politics, with lawmakers in Congress declaring for years they want to pass comprehensive immigration reform only to fail due to partisan bickering.

The Democratic bill looks to provide a path to citizenship for the young people brought to the U.S by their parents as children, known as Dreamers, allow immigrant farmworkers and those with Temporary Protected Status to quickly gain green cards and allow undocumented immigrants to obtain green cards after five years.  

Each of the groups could try to get citizenship three years after receiving their green card.

The poll shows that other aspects of the bill beyond the pathway to citizenship also have the support of the majority of Americans, including providing funding to process a backlog of asylum applications, at 51 percent, establishing refugee processing infrastructure in Central America — 54 percent — and providing funding for more immigration judges, at 53 percent. 

Despite the support, the White House is expected to have a hard time winning GOP votes for the package, which several Republican lawmakers have already panned as an effort to reverse the polices of the Trump administration. 

The Politico/Morning Consult poll surveyed 2,013 registered voters from Feb. 19-22 and has a margin of error of 2 percent.