In this week’s ‘Public Opinion Snapshot’ at the Center for American Progress web pages, TDS Co-Editor Ruy Teixeira affirms that, despite all of the controversy over Arizona’s new law empowering police to harass suspected immigrants, the American public continues to support comprehensive immigration reform. As Teixeira explains:

In a recent AP-Gfk poll…the public was asked whether it was a good thing or a bad thing that the Obama administration had not yet passed a comprehensive immigration bill. A plurality of 48 percent pronounced this a bad thing, while just 9 percent thought it a good thing (41 percent thought it was neither).

And not only does the public want action; They want fairness for illegal immigrants:

The public particularly wants to see a path to citizenship made available. Fifty-nine percent in the same poll favored “providing a legal way for illegal immigrants already in the United States to become U.S. citizens” compared to 39 percent who were opposed.

Despite the Arizona distraction, explains Teixeira, the public wants policy-makers to address immigration reform in a constructive way — as ” the real solution to the immigration problem. The public still wants the country to move in this direction and policymakers should, too.”