USA Today – by Susan PageWASHINGTON — President Obama’s plan to sign an executive order on immigration, expected as early as this week, will meet more resistance than support, a new USA TODAY Poll finds. Close to half of those surveyed, 46%, say he should wait for the new Republican-controlled Congress to act, and another one in 10 are unconvinced either way.
Just 42% of Americans say he should take action now, findings that reflect a familiar partisan divide between Democrats and Republicans. The president is considering an order that would prevent as many as 5 million people from being deported.
But on an interesting combination of other issues, the poll finds sweeping consensus in an electorate that isn’t firmly tied to the views of either party. Those surveyed side by more than 2-1 with Obama on a just-announced climate agreement with China, for instance, and with Republicans on approval of the Keystone XL pipeline.
They are more likely to identify themselves as independents than anything else; 34% say they aren’t aligned with either party. Even after sweeping GOP gains in this month’s midterms, just 24% identify themselves as Republicans; 32% say they’re Democrats.
In the poll:
• By 60%-25%, those surveyed say Congress and Obama should approve construction of the Keystone pipeline, which would carry oil from Canada’s oil sands region through the Midwest to refineries in Texas.
The House passed a bill approving the pipeline Friday, and a Senate vote is scheduled for Tuesday. Obama has indicated he is considering a veto.
• By 63%-28%, Americans also support a U.S.-China agreement unveiled last week during Obama’s visit to Beijing that calls for a reduction in carbon emissions, including by more than 25% in the United States by 2025.
The incoming Senate majority leader, Republican Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, has blasted the deal as one that will cost jobs in the U.S. and demands too little from China.
• And by 62%-30%, they say Obama needs authorization from Congress for the use of force against the radical group that calls itself the Islamic State. The administration has dispatched troops to the region using the authorization passed more than a decade ago before the invasion of Iraq in the wake of the Sept. 11 attacks.
On one more issue, Americans are in agreement: The elections two weeks ago aren’t going to make Washington work better. Just 15% predict Obama and the new Congress, now under solid Republican control, will work together more closely to reach bipartisan compromises.
Almost twice as many, 27%, say it means they will work less closely together. And a 53% majority say nothing will change.
The telephone poll of 1,000 adults, taken by Princeton Survey Research Thursday through Sunday, has a sampling error of +/- 4 percentage points.
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.
In findings with potential implications down the road, some of the groups most supportive of Obama in general aren’t in his corner when it comes to the executive order on immigration and the need to seek congressional authorization for the use of force against ISIS. That could signal a desire among his own backers for him to work more closely with Congress.
On immigration, only 39% of women and 50% of those under 30 say he should act now. On ISIL, a 53% majority of Democrats say Obama needs congressional authorization, as do 62% of women and 70% of those under 30.
I can make up non-sense too.
63%-24% of Americans polled think that the government is corrupt.
59%-39% say it would be “OK” if everyone who holds public office spontaneously erupted into a glob of shit.
In the article
If you flip the numbers they are probably still double that actual percentage.