Released: March 23, 2010                                  Contact: Dr. Robert P. Jones, 240-638-6403
Updated:  April 14, 2010                                                  rjones@publicreligion.org

New National Poll: People of Faith Support Immigration Reform,
Approve of Clergy Speaking Out

Large Majorities of Major Religious Groups Support Opportunity for Citizenship
Full report and topline questionnaire available here.

A new survey by Public Religion Research Institute finds broad support across religious groups for a comprehensive approach to immigration reform and strong approval for clergy speaking out on the issue. As immigration reform efforts resume around the country, the survey provides timely data about American attitudes on the issue and the influence of religion and values. The nationwide telephone survey of 1,201 Americans (1,047 voters), along with two state surveys of Ohio (n=402) and Arkansas (n=402) residents, was conducted March 5-11, 2010. The study was sponsored by the Ford Foundation.

“By a 2-to-1 margin, Americans strongly support a comprehensive approach to immigration reform, and they want a solution that reflects strongly held values,” said Dr. Robert P. Jones, CEO of Public Religion Research Institute.  “More than 8-in-10 Americans-including overwhelming majorities of white mainline Protestants, Catholics, and white evangelicals-believe strongly that immigration reform should be guided by the values of protecting the dignity of every person and keeping families together as well as by such values as promoting national security and ensuring fairness to taxpayers.”

The survey identified a significant partisan values gap related to immigration policy. There is general agreement among Democrats, Independents, and Republicans on values such as promoting national security, securing the border, and ensuring fairness to taxpayers.  On the other hand, Democrats rated cultural-religious values-such as protecting the dignity of every person, keeping families together, the Golden Rule, and the biblical value of welcoming the stranger-higher than Republicans by double digits.

Jones also said the survey refutes recent claims that religious leaders’ support for comprehensive immigration reform does not reflect the values of people in the pews.  Nearly nine-in-ten Americans and respondents in every major religious tradition-including white evangelicals, white mainline Protestants, and Catholics-favor a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, one of the key provisions of a comprehensive approach to reform.  And by a two-to-one margin, Americans overall and from across the religious landscape favor a comprehensive approach over more limited approaches focused on enforcement alone.

“On this issue, the public is out ahead of the politicians,” said Rev. Rich Nathan, pastor of the 10,000-member Vineyard Church in Columbus, Ohio.  “Our politicians need to exert some focused leadership; they’ll find they have the support if they exert that leadership.”

“These findings highlight the importance of the religious community, which shares a common set of values on this issue,” said Katie Paris of Faith in Public Life, one of several leaders from the religious community who commented on the survey findings. “The faith community is uniquely positioned to break down partisan barriers on immigration reform by emphasizing these shared values. This is critical in the weeks and months ahead as we work to fix our broken immigration system with support from both political parties.”

Additionally, the survey shows that Americans who attend religious services regularly are comfortable with clergy speaking out about the issue of immigration. The survey found that while only about one-fourth of regular worship attenders report hearing about immigration reform at their place of worship, strong majorities would be comfortable hearing their clergy address the issue in church venues such as from the pulpit, as well as in public venues such as community meetings and the media.

“I am encouraged that the poll shows people want immigration reform that is guided by religious values such as the dignity of the human person, keeping families together, and the Golden Rule — values the Bishops and the Catholic Church have long held as central on this issue,” said Father Tom Reese, Senior Fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University. “It is also encouraging to see that a majority of people support their clergy speaking out on immigration reform.”

The survey found that Americans are nearly equally divided over whether immigrants today strengthen the country or are a burden, but more than 8-in-10 said they completely (42%) or mostly (42%) agree that the American economy would benefit if current illegal immigrants became taxpaying citizens.  The survey also found that deportation was broadly unpopular as a solution. A majority (56%) of the public disagree that we “should make a serious effort to deport all illegal immigrants back to their home countries.”  While white evangelicals are more likely to call current immigrants a burden on the country, 83% of them, nearly the same percentage as Americans overall, agree that the economy would benefit if current illegal immigrants became taxpaying citizens.

Among the survey’s findings:

• A majority (56%) of Americans say the immigration system is completely or largely broken. Only 7% say the system is generally working, and about one-third (34%) say the system is working but with some major problems.
• At least 8-in-10 Americans rate four values as very or extremely important guides to immigration reform: enforcing the rule of law and promoting national security (88%), ensuring fairness to taxpayers (84%), protecting the dignity of every person (82%), and keeping families together (80%). There are few significant differences among religious groups; for example, white evangelicals are just as likely as white Mainline Protestants, Catholics and the unaffiliated to say protecting the dignity of every person is a very or extremely important value.
• A strong majority (71%) also say following the Golden Rule-”providing immigrants the same opportunity that I would want if my family were immigrating to the U.S.”- is a very or extremely important value.
• Nearly 9-in-10 (86%) Americans favor a policy that includes one of the key provisions of comprehensive immigration reform-that illegal immigrants be required to register with the government, work, pay taxes, and learn English before having the opportunity to apply for citizenship. Support remains strong across all religious traditions. When asked to choose between a description of comprehensive immigration reform and typical opposing arguments, Americans still prefer a comprehensive approach by a margin of nearly 2-to-1.
• There is general agreement across political lines about the importance of the values of enforcing the rule of law/promoting national security, and ensuring fairness to taxpayers, with more than 8-in-10 Americans rating these as extremely or very important.
• However, by double-digit margins, Democrats are more likely than Republicans to rate cultural-religious values as important for immigration reform:
  • For Democrats, the top two most important values that should guide immigration reform are protecting the dignity of every person and keeping families together. Democrats rate these values significantly higher than Republicans (88% vs. 74%, and 88% vs. 71% extremely/very important respectively).
  • Democrats are also significantly more likely than Republicans to rate religious values such as following the Golden Rule and welcoming the stranger as very or extremely important for immigration reform (75% vs. 65%, and 60% vs. 45% respectively).
• A majority of Americans who attend religious services regularly (at least once or twice per month) say they would be comfortable with clergy speaking out from the pulpit, and 6-in-10 say they would be comfortable with clergy discussing the issue in their congregation’s newsletter or website. Larger majorities would be comfortable with clergy talking about the issue in an adult education session (74%), at a local community meeting (77%) or in the local media (75%).

Update: Our initial March 23 release of the data described the overall survey sample as being drawn from registered voters when it should have been identified as a sample from the general population.  We have issued an updated version of the topline questionnaire and all related documents that show results for both the general population and a subset of voters. The survey found no significant differences between the general public and voters on measures of support for immigration reform.

Re-contact Survey Update:

PRRI conducted a short re-contact survey March 31-April 5, 2010, with participants of the original national and state surveys that were fielded March 5-11, 2010. The purpose of the re-contact survey was to assess whether the passage of comprehensive health care reform on March 21, 2010, which occurred after the original survey field dates, had influenced public attitudes about the direction of the country or specifically about support for Congress tackling immigration reform this year.

• We found no shift in support for Congress tackling immigration reform this year, with the public remaining evenly divided.
• However, we found a significant increase in satisfaction with the direction of the country, compared to attitudes prior to the passage of health care reform. While nearly two-thirds (64%) of Americans remain dissatisfied with the direction of the country, we found a significant 9-point increase (from 20% to 29%) in the number of Americans who said they were satisfied with the direction of the country.
• The increase in satisfaction with the direction of the country was driven primarily by a large increase in satisfaction among Democrats. Satisfaction increased 21 points among Democrats from only one-third (33%) to a majority (54%), compared to an increase of 6 points among Independents (15% to 21%) and only 2 points among Republicans (9% to 11%).

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