Latinos like Obama’s immigration action

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s decisions on immigration last week have angered Republicans, but have drawn strong support from a key audience, Latino voters, according to a new survey.

Roughly 9 in 10 Latino registered voters said they supported Obama’s move to shield parents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents from deportation, according to the survey by Latino Decisions, a polling firm that specializes in Latino voters.

The support cut across demographic categories, with English speakers and Spanish speakers, Mexican and non-Mexican immigrants, and Democratic and Republican Latinos saying they supported Obama’s actions, the poll said.

“This is the highest and the most unified we have ever found Latino public opinion,” said pollster Matt Barreto, who conducted the survey.

About two-thirds of the registered voters surveyed said they blamed Republicans for Congress’ inability to pass immigration legislation over the past two years. About 1 in 4 said they primarily blamed Obama and Democrats. And about 80 percent said they would oppose efforts, which some Republicans have pushed, to try to block Obama’s move by cutting off government funds to administer it.

As previous surveys have done, the poll also provided evidence of how much the population of immigrants in this country illegally is intertwined with the Latino citizen population.

About two-thirds of Latino registered voters said they personally know someone who is in the U.S. illegally, and about a third of Latino voters said they had a family member who was in the country without legal authorization.