Americans divided over Obama’s immigration moves

President Obama Delivers Remarks On Executive Action Immigration Reform
WASHINGTON, DC - NOVEMBER 20: U.S. President Barack Obama announces executive actions on U.S. immigration policy during a nationally televised address from the White House, November 20, 2014 in Washington, DC. Obama outlined a plan on Thursday to ease the threat of deportation for about 4.7 million undocumented immigrants. (Photo by Jim Bourg-Pool/Getty Images)
Photograph by Jim Bourg — Getty Images

This post is in partnership with Time. The article below was originally published at Time.com

By Tessa Berenson, TIME

Americans are sharply split on their reaction to President Barack obama

a’s recent executive actions to protect about five million undocumented immigrants from deportation and give them temporary legal status, according to a new poll.

The Quinnipiac University survey released Tuesday found that 45% of voters support the President’s immigration moves, while 48% oppose them. The poll also shows support for immigrants at its lowest level ever measured by Qunnipiac: 48% of voters say undocumented immigrants should be allowed to stay with a path to citizenship, down from 57% in November of 2013. And 35% say undocumented immigrants should be required to leave the U.S., up from 26% a year ago.

“Americans look at immigration reform with ambivalence,” said assistant Quinnipiac polling Tim Malloy said.

The poll of 1,623 registered voters, conducted Nov. 18-23, had a margin of error of plus or minus 2.4 percentage points.

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