40,000-Person PRRI Immigration Polling Finds Majority in All 50 States Back Citizenship over Deportation

New immigration polling released today again reminds us that the Trump Administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, characterized by indiscriminate deportations and unrelenting hostility to legalization, is as unpopular as it is radical. The results of the Public Religion Research Institute (PRRI) “2016 American Values Atlas,” comprised of 40,000 interviews in all 50 states, finds that a majority of residents in each state back citizenship over deportation and overwhelming support for legalizing, instead of deporting, undocumented immigrants.

Nationwide, when asked their preferred policy for undocumented immigrants, a combined 79% of Americans in the 40,000-sample PRRI polling backed either a path to citizenship (supported by a whopping 64% of the public) or permanent legal residency (15%) while only 16% supported the option embraced by the Trump Administration – identifying and deporting undocumented immigrants.

According to Lynn Tramonte, Deputy Director of America’s Voice Education Fund:

In every state and across ideological and political lines, Americans are clear that they want undocumented immigrants to be able to legalize and eventually gain citizenship. The Trump Administration’s deportation-focused approach panders to a small minority of nativists at the expense of the overwhelming wishes of Americans and the best interests of the country.

As PRRI CEO Robert P. Jones noted in the press release accompanying their findings:

Lost amid the current rhetoric surrounding immigration reform is one fact: Very few Americans prefer deporting the 11 million immigrants currently living in the country illegally. Even majorities of Republicans and those living in the reddest states favor allowing these immigrants a chance to become citizens, provided they meet certain requirements.

Among the key findings in the massive-sample PRRI poll: