For a significant number of potential 2016 voters, immigration policies are not an abstraction but have a direct impact for their loved ones.

As many as 1.5 million U. S. citizen relatives of immigrants awaiting deportation relief under the president's stalled executive action program will be eligible to vote for president next year, a new study reports, and their votes could have an impact in battleground states.

By 2020, that number will increase to 2.25 million, as more children and family members reach voting age.

The Center for American Progress, a progressive think thank, found that 6.3 million U.S. citizens live in the same households as relatives who would qualify for protection from deportation and work permits under Deferred Action for Parents of Americans and Lawful Permanent Residents, or DAPA.

DAPA is a program authorized by President Barack Obama to temporarily shield millions of immigrants here illegally from deportation and allow them to work. To be eligible for DAPA the immigrants must be parents of children who are U.S. citizens or legal permanent residents. A lawsuit filed by the state of Texas and joined by other states has stalled the relief.

Manuel Pastor, one of the authors of the report, said these U.S. citizens of or reaching voting age likely have strong and personal connections to their DAPA-eligible relatives. Therefore, he said, they may be “highly motivated” to learn about the candidates’ positions on the DAPA program.

“I think when people think about DAPA, they think about the effects on the parents themselves—the undocumented immigrants—and what they forget is that those folks are embedded in families,” Pastor said. “It’s important to remember that whatever affects undocumented folks actually touches people who are citizens and can vote.”

The vast majority of U.S. citizens living with relatives who would qualify for DAPA are Latino, 82 percent. Asian American and Pacific Islanders follow at 8 percent.

Pastor said that as in past elections, these two groups of voters likely will view immigration as a “threshold issue” that determines whether or not they perceive a candidate is on their side.