Americans aren’t as fearful as talk radio would have you believe. That’s according to a national poll conducted by the American Friends Service Committee (AFSC), which they say supports citizenship for undocumented immigrants.
Dr. William L. Rosenberg, a professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia directed the study, which included random telephone interviews with more than 1,000 people across the nation. According to the survey, approximately 67 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that “A legal path to permanent residency and eventual citizenship should be available to all immigrants who have built a life in this country.”
Based on a zero-to-ten scale, with zero being not at all in agreement and ten being the highest level of agreement, those surveyed agreed on average with the statement that “white supremacist groups use the immigration debate as a recruiting tool,” (6.95) and that “politicians blame illegal immigrants for our social problems to avoid handling real solutions to the nation’s problems with jobs, education, and health care” (6.87).
More interesting, 63 percent of respondents believed that immigrants were not a threat to their own occupations, a key complaint used by those against relaxed immigration policies.
The AFSC describes itself as a “Quaker organization” and works on a variety of social justice issues.
Technical information about the poll from the press release:
Note: Figures in this press release that are numbers, (e.g. 7.2) are based on a zero-to-ten scale with zero being not at all in agreement and ten being the highest level of agreement. Other figures, such as 62.6%, represent a frequency percentage of the sample.
William L. Rosenberg, Ph.D., a nationally recognized opinion research expert, served as the independent director for this study. Dr. Rosenberg has co-authored two books on national politics and has conducted more than 80 national and regional studies.