Almost Half Want Obama to Delay Immigration Action

A new poll shows that almost half (46%) of Americans want Obama to wait for the new Republican majority in the House and the Senate to act on immigration rather than act unilaterally.

Forty-six percent surveyed by USA Today think Obama should hold off and allow the new Republican majorities in the House and Senate to act on immigration reform. By contrast, 42 percent of Americans say Obama should act now.

To what extent this can be seen as a repudiation of Obama’s desire to act unilaterally on immigration, is unclear.  A good follow up question in that survey might have been “If the Senate and House failed to do anything about immigration next year, do you support the President taking unilateral action?”

Once the GOP has the majority in the Senate, it’s hard to image what they might put forward. Would it be sufficient to keep Obama from acting unilaterally? I’m going to guess not.

The poll also reveals the typical partisan breakdown: “On the issue of immigration, Democrats overwhelmingly want Obama to take action now, 60%-28%. Republicans by an even wider margin want him to wait, 76%-17%. Independents split with 44% supporting acting now, 46% endorsing delay.”