With President Obama Thursday restating his administration's commitment to immigration reform, it's worth revisiting where Americans rank immigration as an issue.
When asked in May about potential threats to the future well-being of the United States, immigration trailed terrorism, federal debt, healthcare costs, and unemployment in terms of threats Americans perceive as "extremely serious."
In our story on these findings, Jeff Jones reports that Republicans are far more likely than Democrats to say immigration is an extremely serious threat to the future well-being of the country. Republicans are also the party Americans trust most to handle the immigration issue, though by a small margin.
In terms of the public opinion context, it makes sense that Obama's immigration speech comes the day after the House passed a major financial reform bill. By a small margin, that's the issue Americans -- and Democrats even more strongly -- in April said Congress should make its highest priority.
With financial reform now through the House and the Senate expected to pass financial reform after the Fourth of July recess, Obama is smart to make it clear that immigration is on his radar.
We'll have an update on Americans' views about some of the particulars involved with immigration reform in a Gallup.com story for Tuesday. To make sure to get the story as soon as it is published, sign up for our immigration e-mail alerts or RSS feeds.