Just 39 percent of American voters approve of President Obama’s job performance and are divided on whether he should address the immigration issue if Congress fails to act, according to a new poll.
Fifty-four percent of voters disapprove of his job performance, according to a Quinnipiac poll released Tuesday — close to his lowest-ever 38 percent/57 percent split in a December 2013 Quinnipiac poll.
Forty-five percent said if Congress does not act on immigration, Mr. Obama should move unilaterally on the issue, while 48 percent said he should not. Two-thirds oppose Congress shutting down “major activities of the federal government” as a way to keep Mr. Obama from using executive action to address the issue.
Congressional Republicans are weighing how to respond to Mr. Obama’s recent move to grant temporary legal status for illegal immigrants who have been in the country for at least five years and have a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident as a child. Some have called for the GOP to use the power of the purse to block Mr. Obama’s ability to carry out the actions, but that could raise talk of a shutdown, which Republican leaders in Congress want to avoid.
Though at least one survey shows that Hispanics overwhelmingly approve of the president’s actions, attitudes toward immigrants could be changing among the larger voting public, according to the Quinnipiac poll.
Forty-eight percent of voters think illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the country, with an eventual pathway to citizenship — down from 57 percent last November and the lowest that number has been.
Meanwhile, 35 percent say illegal immigrants should be required to leave the country, up from 26 percent a year ago and higher than that number has ever been.
Eleven percent think illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay but not be allowed to apply for citizenship — a number consistent with other surveys.
The poll of 1,623 registered voters taken from Nov. 18-23 has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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