Poll indicates little voter urgency on immigration, compared to jobs issues

A recent Gallup Poll shows that immigration is a low priority for Americans. According to the poll, Americans believe the most important problem facing the country today is the economy, followed by unemployment/jobs and dissatification with the government. Despite the Senate releasing an 844-page immigration reform bill last night, immigration ranked 7th on the list with only 4% of Americans thinking the issue is most important. Since Gallup started polling Americans about important problems in February 2013, immigration has polled low. In February it was 3%, March 5% and April 4%. Despite the Senate Gang of Eight announcing their plans for an immigration overhaul in February, the importance perception of the issue to the average American remains consistently low.According to analysis from Gallup, the April 2013 result of 4% of Americans who name immigration as a top problem is about the same as the 5% who mentioned it last month. The importance perception on immigration has gone down for the past seven years. in April 2006, 19% of Americans said immigration was the nation’s top problem and at least 10% of Americans also mentioned immigration as the top problem at other points in 2007, 2008 and 2010. Despite the current focus in Washington on passing immingration reform legislation, most Americans do not put prominence to immigration as the nation’s top problem. Instead, Americans focus on economic issues and problems with the government as their top concerns.Americans want their elected representatives to focus on the problems they perceive to be the most important: the economy and jobs and the way the government functions today.For more information, please read the Gallup Poll.