More Americans are against the executive action taken by President Obama over the issue of immigration reform than support it, according to a new Gallup poll; however, black people, immigrants and Hispanics are much more widely in favor of his action.
Just 41% of Americans agree with the president’s actions and 51% disagree, according to the poll. This poll was conducted between November 24th and December 8th and surveyed over 6,000 adults in the United States, including more than 500 blacks, Hispanics and immigrants born in countries other than America. Previous polls have seen most Americans support the idea of immigration reform that allows undocumented immigrants to stay in the country on certain criteria, perhaps indicating a disapproval of Obama taking executive action rather than disapproval of the idea itself.
Around two-thirds of those surveyed said they were closely following the news about the president’s executive actions, with Hispanics being particularly in favor of it. This is something that is likely to help Obama on a political level with this ever-growing demographic, although support is considerably higher among Hispanic immigrants than those who were born in the United States; the difference is 75% to 51%.
The steepest divide in opinion over Obama’s executive actions comes down to politics, with 85% of Republicans disapproving of what he has done but 70% of Democrats signaling their approval. Independents tended to be more negative than positive on the issue.