Poll: 48 percent oppose Obama executive action on immigration

A new poll finds 48 percent of adults are opposed to executive action by President Obama on immigration.

The poll from NBC News and The Wall Street Journal found 38 percent support executive action, while 14 percent have no opinion or are unsure. 

{mosads}Obama is expected to announce his executive actions on Thursday, and may detail them further during a visit to Las Vegas on Friday. 

In the poll, support and opposition to Obama’s actions falls largely on party lines. Sixty-three percent of Democrats polled back executive action by Obama, compared with only 11 percent of Republicans. Thirty-seven percent of independents support action.

Latino voters support executive action, but by a small margin. Forty-three percent of those polled back the action compared with 37 percent who oppose it. 

It’s unclear what Obama will announce, though it is expected that he will expand a program that defers deportations of people who entered the United States illegally as children or stayed in the country past their visas. 

It’s also expected that Obama could remove the threat of deportation for certain parents who are in the U.S. illegally but have children who are U.S. citizens.

Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson on Wednesday said he believed Obama’s policy moves would fall within “a fairly wide latitude within existing executive authority to fix the system.”

The poll finds that 57 percent back a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants, and this majority increases to 74 percent when respondents are told that the pathway requires passing a background check and paying fines and back taxes.

Republicans have voiced opposition to Obama’s plans for executive action, and quickly seized on the poll. 

Poll shows Americans oppose President’s impending actions on #immigration by a 10 point margin: http://t.co/zIerUyGdKM

— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) November 19, 2014