Only 35 percent of Republicans say illegal immigrants should be able to stay, apply for citizenship. Poll: 51% back path to citizenship

A slim majority of Americans believe that illegal immigrants should be able to stay in the United States and apply for citizenship, according to a new poll that found support for citizenship is on the rise.

Fifty-one percent think illegal immigrants should be able to remain in the country and apply for citizenship, while an additional 20 percent think they should stay as guest workers. Twenty-four percent say they should have to leave the country, according to a CBS News poll released Monday night.


The latest survey shows an 8-percentage-point shift from the 43 percent of Americans who thought illegal immigrants should be able to stay and apply for citizenship in March 2010; 21 percent thought they should stay as guest workers while 32 percent thought they should have to leave at that time.

But along party lines, the response today is widely partisan. Only 35 percent of Republicans think illegal immigrants should be able to stay and apply for citizenship, compared with 66 percent of Democrats, according to the CBS poll. Twenty-five percent of Republicans think they should stay as guest workers, compared with 17 percent of Dems.

And while only 13 percent of Dems think illegal immigrants should have to leave the country — 36 percent of Republicans think they should have to go.

Pollsters conducted the telephone survey between Jan. 24 and Jan. 27 and asked 1,052 adults. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

This article tagged under: Immigration

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