As President Barack Obama moves to implement parts of the DREAM Act by executive order, bypassing the need for congressional approval, today's Rutgers-Eagleton Poll finds that 80 percent of New Jerseyans support the provisions of the proposed law.

The DREAM Act would prevent young undocumented immigrants from being deported if they met certain requirements regarding age, criminal background and education or military service. 

Last week, the president called his executive order, “the right thing to do for the American people.” While the poll was taken two weeks before Obama’s announcement, the findings suggest that his decision is likely to be popular in New Jersey.

“Though the president’s order does not grant permanent citizenship as the DREAM Act would, the new poll results suggest strong support for his action,” said Poll Director David Redlawsk, a professor of political science at Rutgers. “While some may suggest Obama didn’t go far enough, he is not likely to face significant voter backlash here. However, some of the more lukewarm supporters in our poll might be concerned about Obama taking unilateral action.”

After hearing the specifics of the DREAM Act, Garden Staters are evenly split at about 40 percent each between whether they “strongly” or “somewhat” support it, while 10 percent somewhat oppose the act, and 8 percent strongly oppose it.  

Results are from a statewide poll of 1,191 adults using both landlines and cell phones from May 31-June 4. The sample has a margin of error of +/- 2.8 percentage points.