The Department of Homeland Security runs the risk of receiving no funding after the end of this month, with lawmakers unable to resolve their differences over the executive action on immigration reform taken by President Obama; however, a new survey reveals that the great majority of Americans have a vastly different opinion on the subject to that within the Republican Party.
A poll conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute last week found that most people who identify themselves as Republicans want the party to give passing US immigration reform a higher priority ‒ far higher than the number who want to overturn the executive action ordered by Obama. 62% of Republicans, along with 73% of independents and 85% of Democrats, want to prioritize passing the reform.Less than one-fifth of those surveyed are against the goals of the president’s actions, despite these actions being the cause of the delay in funding the Department of Homeland Security. “Only one in five Americans say overturning Obama’s immigration policies should be a priority for the Republican Congress,” notes the chief executive officer of the Public Religion Research Institute, Dr Robert P Jones. “It’s clear that the public is more interested in crafting practical solutions to these thorny issues than they are in partisan showdowns.”
Of those who are opposed to Obama’s immigration reform, researchers found that opposition increased when the president’s name was added to the question. This suggests that much of the opposition is to Obama himself rather than to his actions.