Voters support Obama immigration move

 
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New poll results released Tuesday showed likely U.S. voters support President Barack Obama's new immigration policy change that exempts certain young people from deportation in a 2-to-1 ratio, giving the president a boost in reelection bid.

According to a Bloomberg poll, 64 percent of likely voters surveyed after Obama's June 15 announcement said they agreed with the policy, while 30 percent said they disagreed.

A majority -- 56 percent -- of likely Republican voters opposed the decision, while almost nine in 10, or 86 percent, of Democrats supported it. Sixty-five percent of independents backed the policy change, while 26 percent disagreed.

Bloomberg said the results underscore the challenge facing presumed GOP nominee Mitt Romney and Republicans as they try to woo Hispanic voters, the largest ethnic minority and made up 9 percent of the 2008 electorate, according to a Pew Hispanic Center analysis of exit polls.

Obama won the Hispanic vote 67 to 31 percent over Republican John McCain in 2008.

According to the Obama administration's decision, young illegal immigrants, who are under the age of 30 and were brought to the United States as young children, won't face deportation. The decision impacts about 800,000 people.

The decision left Republicans struggling to respond, trapped between alienating their political base and sending a negative signal to the Hispanic community and independent voters.

Romney, who took a hardline on immigration during the GOP primary, has refused to say whether he would reverse the decision if he's elected.

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