Immigration Reform 2013 - Nearly 70% Americans Favor Path To Citizenship: Poll

Here’s some good news for the “gang of eight” senators working diligently to pass immigration reform in 2013: Nearly 70 percent of Americans are in favor of letting illegal immigrants/undocumented workers stay in the country -- either by a path to citizenship or granting them permanent legal residents status, according to a recent Gallup poll.

Gallup researchers surveyed 1,018 adults between Tuesday and Wednesday, asking if they would vote for a law that provided illegal immigrants a chance to become “permanent legal residents” if they met certain requirements. In the survey, 69 percent were in favor, while 29 percent were against it. When the respondents were asked whether they would vote for a law allowing for those immigrants to become U.S. citizens, 65 percent would support it, while 32 percent would vote against it.

A law that would allow illegal immigrants the opportunity to stay in the United States legally would attract more support from Democrats and those leaning left (77 percent), rather than Republicans and those who lean right (57 percent), the poll found.

There are approximately 11 million illegal immigrants in America.

Capitol Hill lawmakers are expected to announce the 2013 immigration reform bill next week. Further, in the latest sign of incrementally building immigration reform momentum, U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is apparently preparing to offer his full support for the legislation.

Rubio, a possible 2016 presidential candidate, is one of the eight senators working on the immigration reforming bill. The senator is viewed as pivotal to the bill approval process, because he could possibly lobby conservatives to support the bipartisan measure.

According to Politico, Rubio is currently preparing to become the public face of the immigration reform bill -- this after it appeared as if the senator was stalling on the immigration reform, saying news of an imminent agreement on the legislation was “premature.”

“Obviously, we’ll be informing the public, and we’ll want everyone to know everything that’s in the bill,” Rubio told Politico. “We want everyone to know as much of what’s in the bill as possible, and we will use every opportunity we have to communicate that.”