Public Sees Deficit As Bigger Priority Than Immigration Reform, Says Pew Center Study

Immigrant advocates say they're not going to let a comprehensive reform die in the water. More than 100 women were arrested last week during a protest on Capitol Hill in support of the reform, and other advocates are beginning to call for President Barack Obama to stop deportations of a much wider portion of the undocumented population or even offer legal status. But according to studies carried out by the Pew Center, much of the American public ranks immigration reform below dealing with the deficit on the list of political priorities, but above climate change and gun control, the two other priorities which figured prominently in Obama's last State of the Union address.

Seven out of ten Americans - including 81 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats - told the Pew Center that they believed presidential and Congressional action on the deficit was "essential" this year. In comparison, 51 percent of respondents back in February said they saw major immigration legislation as essential. That percentile varied little by party affiliation, with 53 percent of Republicans, 54 percent of Democrats, and 49 percent of independent voters saying they considered it essential. But the other two of the president's four main priorities appeared to be much more divisive. 19 percent of Republicans versus 71 percent of Democrats and 42 percent of independents favored major gun legislation; 15 percent of Republicans wanted new climate change policies this year, while 47 percent of Democrats and 35 percent of independents called it essential.

The Senate passed an immigration reform bill by a large margin of victory in June, but since then the House's Republican leadership has refused to introduce it for consideration in the lower chamber. With the odds that it will conference one of its several small, single-issue immigration bills with the Senate legislation looks slim, bits and pieces among the broad coalition of supporters of comprehensive reform are turning to the White House to act. Ana Avendano, director of immigration and community action at the AFL-CIO, told Fox News, "If Congress doesn't move, the president has a duty to act. Just because the Republicans have buried their heads in the sand doesn't mean that immigrant communities aren't feeling the sting of constant deportations."

Obama has given no sign that he would take matters into his own hands. On Friday, he told ABC News that he thought if House leadership introduced the Senate's bill, it would pass. But he said there's little else he could do but continue to press House Republicans on the issue. "All I can do when it comes to that group of members of Congress is to continue to talk to them", he told "This Week" host George Stephanopoulos.

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