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| President George W. Bush, joined by Senate Minority leader Sen. Mitch McConnell and Sen. Trent Lott, foreground-left, addresses members of the media at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday, June 12, 2007, following his meeting with Senate Republican leaders and lunch with the Senate's Republican membership to ask their support for immigration reform legislation. White House photo by Joyce N. Boghosian |
A strong majority of Americans — including nearly two-thirds of Republicans — favour allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens if they pay fines, learn English and meet other requirements, a new Los Angeles Times/Bloomberg poll has found.
The evidence of strong public support for a central aspect of the immigration overhaul bill, is at a time when it has stalled in the Senate amid conservative opposition.
Only 23% of adults surveyed opposed allowing undocumented immigrants to gain legal status. That finding bolsters the view, shared by President Bush, that the bill's opponents represent a vocal minority whereas most people are more welcoming toward illegal immigrants.
US chief executive officers are regarded as unethical and overpaid, according to most Americans surveyed in the poll.
More than six in 10 people surveyed say CEOs are ``not too ethical'' or ``not ethical at all,'' versus 33% who call them ``mostly ethical.'' An overwhelming majority, more than eight in 10, say executives are paid too much. At the same time, Americans remain upbeat about the state of the economy.
Bloomberg News says that lingering antagonism toward the boardroom set could mean that Democrats, who have been leery of being labeled anti- business in the past, may be emboldened in efforts to curb executive compensation and tighten financial regulation. The House of Representatives in April approved a measure to give shareholders more say on how top executives are paid. A similar bill is working its way through the Senate.
The poll findings reflect ``anger on the part of the average American'' said Representative Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. ``It's obviously important for the legislation and I would hope CEOs and others would look at this,'' said Frank, who has made reining in executive pay a priority since taking over in January as chairman of the House Financial Services Committee.
President Bush's approval rating has hit a new low: The poll found 34% approved of the job the president is doing, the lowest level registered by the Los Angeles Times poll throughout his time in office.
Those and other poll findings indicate a pessimistic electorate, distrustful of political and corporate leaders and unhappy with the status quo at home and abroad. More than two-thirds of those surveyed believe the country is seriously on the wrong track, nearly matching the highest level of pessimism since 1992. Many blame US oil companies and the Bush administration for high gas prices. And they have a jaundiced view of corporate chieftains, seeing them as overpaid and unethical.
The LA Times says that dissatisfaction with Bush is a big part of the sour mood. His approval rating fell to 34% from 45% in September. Even among Republicans, that number was down to 70% from 83%.
Only 31% of those surveyed approved of the president's handling of the war in Iraq. And the poll found increased support for an immediate US troop withdrawal: A quarter of those polled said they supported such a plan, up from 19% in January.
And the perception that the country is not moving in the right direction was more pervasive than in January, when 61% said things were on the wrong track; now 69% feel that way. Just 43% of GOP respondents said the country is moving in the right direction.
Partisan divisions are particularly pronounced in voters' views of the economy and their own financial condition. Eighty-two percent of Republican respondents said the economy is doing well, whereas 44% of Democrats shared that view. Fourteen percent of Republicans said they were worse off financially than three years ago, compared with 34% of Democrats.
The poll also found a wide gender gap in attitudes toward the economy, with men far more optimistic than women. More than two-thirds of men surveyed said the economy is doing well, compared with 49% of women.
The LA Times says that the immigration debate has heated up in recent weeks, with the Senate taking up — and last week putting off — the overhaul legislation. The bill aims to establish a pathway to citizenship for most of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the U.S. It also would create a guest worker program and institute a point system for evaluating new immigrants that would put less weight on family ties and more on applicants' skills and education.
Underscoring the urgency of the debate, 86% of people surveyed said illegal immigration was an important problem.
Although the pathway to citizenship is one of the most controversial provisions of the Senate bill, 63% of those polled backed the idea — as did 58% of those who identified themselves as conservatives and 65% of Republicans.
The survey question specified that, under the proposal, citizenship would be available only to those who registered their presence in the US, had no criminal record, paid a fine, got fingerprinted and learned English, among other requirements.
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.
