Memo: Voters in Key Senate States Support a Pathway to Citizenship

By Ethan Winter Senior Analyst, Data for Progress and Morgan Sperry Analyst, Data for Progress

Introduction

From the end of April into early May, 2021, Data for Progress fielded surveys in ten states — Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Wisconsin — to measure support among likely voters for a pathway to citizenship for Dreamers, TPS-holders, farmworkers and other essential workers. 

Specifically, likely voters in all ten states were asked the following question: 

Do you support or oppose legislation that would create an earned path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children, people who are contributing and working here legally due to war or natural disaster in their home countries, and farmworkers and other essential workers?

We find that a majority of likely voters in all ten states surveyed support this proposal. This includes a majority of Independents in all of the ten states and between roughly a third to a majority of Republicans, state dependent. 

Beyond immigration, we also asked whether likely voters approve or disapprove of the job President Joe Biden is doing as president. We find that in all states surveyed, Biden’s job approval rating is holding steady when compared against his share of that state’s vote in November 2020. In some states his job approval rating also indicates he has gained support since the election.