A new poll conducted for groups that support immigration reform finds 90 percent of Iowans want congress to take action on the issue sooner rather than later. Iowa Chamber Alliance executive director John Stineman says two-thirds of the Iowans surveyed favor granting some sort of legal status to undocumented immigrants.
“Voters in Iowa don’t want Washington to wait,” Stineman says. “Three-quarters of voters want congress to act this year, with more than half of those saying that they would consider that to be very important that they act this year.”
Stineman says the poll also found voters do not consider the current state of border security and the recent flood of unaccompanied children walking into the U.S. to be valid reasons to delay “comprehensive” immigration reform.
“When you put a political lens on it, you see that as Iowa voters look forward to 2016 that they would rather vote for a presidential candidate that’s from a party that supports immigration reform rather than opposes it,” Stineman says, “and that’s an overwhelming majority,” Stineman says.
According to the survey, 60 percent of Republicans have that viewpoint. A coalition of groups is hosting events in 25 states today to urge congress to take action on immigration reform.