Source:  Lisa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 5/25/10

U.S. voters are about as divided on the issue of immigration as legislators are, judging by the results of a poll on the topic by ImmigrationWorksUSA, but the majority of them think a major overhaul of the immigration system is needed.

Overall, just more than half (52 percent) believe that immigration "hurts the U.S." more than it helps, while 41 percent believe immigration benefits the country. But when the results are broken down by political loyalties, race, age, gender, employment and other demographic categories, clear divisions emerge:

• Republicans tend to believe immigration hurts the economy and Democrats tend to think it helps.
• White Americans are more likely to think it hurts the country, while Hispanics see a benefit and African-Americans are divided.
• Older Americans, women, hourly workers and retirees and voters who didn't go to college believe immigration hurts the country, while younger voters, salaried men and voters with college degrees tend to see more benefit than cost from immigration.
• Only voters in the Pacific region of the country are favorably inclined toward immigration; those in every other part of the country see it as a burden.

Still, 69 percent of all voters think the U.S. immigration system needs "major reform," and only 8 percent think the system "works fine." And they want Congress to solve it: 87 percent said they want their elected representatives to work on immigration reform.

When it comes to considering legal and illegal immigrants separately, Democrat voters were several times more likely than Republicans to feel favorable toward legal immigrations, and Republicans were several times more likely to feel unfavorable toward illegal immigrants.

"Predictably enough, voters have mixed feelings about immigrants and whether they help or hurt America. But overwhelming majorities all along the political spectrum want the country to move forward with reform," ImmigrationWorks CEO Tamar Jacoby said in a note accompanying the announcement of the poll results.

The poll in its entirety included three focus groups, held in Dallas, Omaha and Nashville in April, and a survey of 800 likely voters nationwide in early May.

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