GALLUP NEWS SERVICE
PRINCETON, NJ -- Legislation to deal with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States may not become a reality until after the next president moves into the White House. Gallup, however, examined one of the issues that Congress has recently debated: requiring immigrants to be proficient in English to stay in the United States.
According to Gallup's annual Minority Rights and Relations survey, a solid majority of Americans support an English proficiency requirement for staying in the country. Even a majority of Hispanics agree, though their support is lower than that of whites and blacks. Among Hispanics, women and lower-income Hispanics show the least support for an English proficiency requirement.
The poll was conducted June 4-24, 2007, interviewing 2,388 adults nationwide, including 868 non-Hispanic whites, 802 non-Hispanic blacks, and 502 Hispanics. The total sample is weighted to reflect the proper proportions of each group in the U.S. population. About one-quarter of the interviews with Hispanics were conducted in Spanish, with the remainder in English.
Gallup asked Americans if they think the United States should, or should not, "require immigrants who come to this country to be proficient in English as a condition for remaining in the U.S." More than three in four Americans, 77%, support this, while 22% oppose it.
Whites and blacks do not differ much in their responses to this question. Eighty percent of whites say the government should require immigrants to be proficient in English to remain in this country, while 18% say the government should not require this. Among blacks, 76% support this proposal, and 22% oppose it.
Most Hispanics also support requiring immigrants to be proficient in English to remain in the United States, but to a lesser extent than whites or blacks. According to the poll, 59% of Hispanics support this requirement, and 40% oppose it.
Those interviewed in Spanish are more likely to oppose the English proficiency requirement than support it, 54% to 44%. By contrast, those Hispanics interviewed in English support this requirement by a 69% to 31% margin.
Hispanic men and women differ significantly in their views on this issue. Nearly two in three Hispanic men (65%) say they support the requirement for immigrants to be proficient in English as a condition to remain in the country, while 35% oppose it. Hispanic women are less supportive, with 53% supporting and 45% opposing such a requirement.
Hispanics living in lower-income households (annual income less than $30,000) are evenly divided at 49% as to whether the government should or should not require English proficiency as a condition for immigrants to remain in the country. This may be due in large part to the fact that most of these lower-income Hispanics were interviewed Spanish. Roughly two in three Hispanics earning $30,000 or more per year support this requirement; only about a third opposes it.
Survey Methods
Results are based on telephone interviews with 2,388 national adults, aged 18 and older, conducted June 4-24, 2007, including oversamples of Blacks and Hispanics that are weighted to reflect their proportions in the general population. For results based on the total sample of national adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the maximum margin of sampling error is ±5 percentage points.
For results based on sample of 868 non-Hispanic whites, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±7 percentage points.
For results based on sample of 802 blacks, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±6 percentage points.
For results based on sample of 502 Hispanics, the maximum margin of sampling error is ±6 percentage points. (138 out of the 502 interviews with Hispanics were conducted in Spanish).
In addition to sampling error, question wording and practical difficulties in conducting surveys can introduce error or bias into the findings of public opinion polls.