WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - While President Donald Trump has decided to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, the results of a Morning Consult/Politico poll found that a majority of voters think the undocumented immigrants protected by the Obama-era policy should be allowed to remain in the country.
Fifty-eight percent of voters said the undocumented immigrants known as Dreamers should be allowed to stay and become citizens if they meet certain requirements.
Another 18 percent of voters said the Dreamers should be allowed to stay and become legal residents but not citizens, while just 15 percent favor deportation.
Allowing the Dreamers to stay and become citizens is supported by 71 percent of Democrats and 56 percent of independents, as well as a 46 percent plurality of Republicans.
The poll was conducted before Trump officially announced the decision to rescind the DACA program, which provides certain illegal immigrants who were brought to the country as children protection from deportation and eligibility to apply for work permits.
The administration revealed that it will be phasing out the program over six months, giving Congress time to act to address the approximately 800,000 undocumented immigrants granted protection.
Trump said in a post on Twitter on Tuesday that he will 'revisit the issue' if Congress is unable to legalize DACA in the next six months.
The poll found that voters are split over which party they trust more to handle immigration, with 40 percent saying Democrats and a matching 40 percent saying Republicans.
Voters are also divided over the larger question of how to handle the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants residing in the country.
Forty-nine percent said the illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay and become citizens, 21 percent said they should be allowed to stay and become legal residents but not citizens, and 22 percent said they should be deported.
The Morning Consult/Politico survey of 1,993 registered voters was conducted August 31st through September 3rd and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2 percentage points.
(Photo: Fibonacci Blue)
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