Those conditions helped ease concerns among some Republicans, including Michael Prandini of Fresno, who heads a homebuilders association. He said a path to citizenship without these conditions would be "unfair to the people who have gotten citizenship through the correct channels."
The guest worker program and visa point system did not draw as much support, largely because those elements of the legislation were not as well known. Forty-three percent said they did not know enough about the point system to have an opinion; 25% did not know enough about the guest worker program to weigh in.
The survey was conducted Thursday through Sunday; 1,183 adults were surveyed by telephone. The margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
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janet.hook@latimes.com
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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)
Views on immigration
Do you support or oppose the following proposals:
Q: Allow undocumented immigrants who have been living and working in the United States for a number of years, and who do not have a criminal record, to start on a path to citizenship by registering that they are in the country, paying a fine, getting fingerprinted and learning English, among other requirements.
*--* All Democrats Independents Republicans Support 63% 66% 66% 65% Oppose 23 19 20 27 Don't know 14 15 14 8
*--*
Q: Create a guest worker program that would give a temporary visa to noncitizens who want to work legally in the United States.
*--* All Democrats Independents Republicans Support 49% 51% 52% 47% Oppose 26 26 24 30 Don't know 25 23 24 23
*--*
Q: Establish a point system for new immigrants that gives more weight to professional qualifications and command of English than to those having family already in the United States.
*--* All Democrats Independents Republicans Support 34% 30% 33% 43% Oppose 23 30 24 16 Don't know 43 40 43 41
*--*
Q: Do you think things in this country are generally going in the right direction or are they seriously on the wrong track?
Now
Right direction: 24%
Wrong track: 69%
Q: Do you approve or disapprove of the way George W. Bush is handling:
*--* His job as Situation president The economy in Iraq Approve 34% 38% 31% Disapprove 62 58 67 Don't know 4 4 2
*--*
Q: So far, who do you think is winning the war in Iraq?
*--* All Democrats Independents Republicans U.S. 18% 11% 13% 34% Insurgents in Iraq 13 20 16 4 Neither U.S. nor 64 66 66 54 insurgents Don't know 5 3 5 8
