How immigration reform is winning, even while it’s still losing

In March 2010, 54 percent of Americans said the immigration system was broken — either “completely broken” or “broken but working in some areas.”

Today, that number has steadily risen to a whopping 71 percent. And just 26 percent say the system can generally be characterized as “working,” down from 41 percent in 2010.

Now, “broken” is a pretty broad statement. And just because you think the immigration system is broken doesn’t mean you want a path to legal status or citizenship. We’re guessing plenty of folks think it’s broken because of insecure borders. (Though, we would point out that those borders were even more porous a few years back, before the recession, so that doesn’t really explain the shift.)

If nothing else, this poll suggests that the issue is gaining recognition.