Gallup: Key immigration-reform proposals hold broad support

Two immigration reform proposals — a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants and increased border security spending — have strong support among the public, a Gallup survey found Tuesday.

Seventy-two percent of those surveyed said illegal immigrants presently living in the U.S. should have an opportunity to acquire citizenship if they meet certain requirements, and 25 percent said they should not.

Sixty-eight percent also supported increased government spending on border security, while only 29 percent were opposed.

While there is some variation between Republicans and Democrats surveyed, both proposals enjoyed majority support from members of both parties.

Fifty-nine percent of Republicans said they supported a pathway to citizenship for illegal immigrants, versus 90 percent among Democrats. And on the question of increased spending on border security, 79 percent of Republicans said they supported the idea, compared to 64 percent of Democrats.

A bipartisan group of Senate lawmakers have proposed a framework that entails increased security measures at the border and a path to citizenship that doesn’t allow illegal immigrants to leapfrog immigrants who have already applied to come to the U.S. legally.

GOP leaders, including Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), have said they hope to act on immigration reform, but rank-and-file House Republicans are skeptical of proposals to grant citizenship, which they call “amnesty."

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Rice: Immigration debate chance to show GOP has ‘broad appeal’

Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Sunday said that immigration reform would be a pivotal issue for Republicans, who needed to prove their party had “broad appeal.”

"I think immigration is really the big issue, frankly. We sent some pretty bad signals around immigration," said Rice, as she made her debut as a CBS News contributor on “Face the Nation.”

In a panel discussion, Rice said the Republican Party needed to shift its messaging on immigration and said voters would be watching the upcoming debate on comprehensive immigration reform in Congress.

"The Republican Party certainly has to stop turning off large segments of the population. I've said it's not a strategy to keeping hoping that parts of the population don't turn out. You've got to simply broaden," Rice said. "The Republican Party has to demonstrate that it has broad appeal."

Rice also praised Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) for leading the call for immigration reform among Republicans in the Senate.

Rice also said that President Obama, who began his second term Sunday, would need to remain focused on the nation’s economy.

"The first challenge is to do something about the American economy, because I do think that our international leadership has suffered both from the perception that America can't get its act together on entitlements and the deficit and so forth, and from the reality that without a stronger economy there are just some things we cannot do," Rice said.

Rice is the first African-American woman to serve as secretary of State. She formerly served as President George W. Bush's national security adviser and has faced criticism for the Bush administration's handling of the Iraq war.

Rice was one of the top speakers at the Republican National Convention this summer. She is currently a fellow at Stanford University's Hoover Institution and a professor at Stanford's Graduate School of Business.

On Sunday, "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer announced Rice's new role as a contributor with CBS News.

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