|
 |
|
Poll: Most Back Elians Return
Majority Backs INS' Decision to Send Boy to Father in Cuba
Analysis By Dalia Sussman

N E W Y O R K, Jan. 10 Discontent in Miami notwithstanding, a narrow majority of Americans endorses the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Services ruling that 6-year-old Elian Gonzalez be returned to his father in Cuba.
|
|
In a new ABCNEWS.com poll, 52 percent now say the boy should go home to his father, up slightly from 46 percent in a poll taken before the INS decision was announced. Thirty-six percent say he should remain with his relatives in the United States.  Should He Stay or Should He Go? |
| | Return to Cuba | Remain in U.S.
|
| 1/9 | 52% | 36%
|
12/12 | 46% |
33% | |
Cuban-Americans in Miami have been protesting the INS decision to return Gonzalez, and Rep. Dan Burton, R-Ind., has sought to delay the move by issuing a subpoena to have the boy testify before a House committee in February. Gonzalez was found clinging to an inner tube on Thanksgiving Day, two days after a boat carrying illegal immigrants from Cuba to Florida capsized, killing 11, including his mother.
The question in this poll, completed Sunday, updated respondents on the Jan. 5 INS decision. The slight rise in support for sending the boy back to his father was accompanied by a drop in the number of people undecided on the question, from 20 percent to 12. The poll was conducted before a Miami judge issued a protective order today, keeping Gonzalez in the United States in defiance of the INS ruling.
There are a few notable differences among groups. Men perhaps identifying with the father are somewhat more apt than women to favor Gonzalez return to Cuba. And better-educated Americans are markedly more apt to say the boy should be returned.
 Differences Among Groups  |
| | Return to Cuba | Remain in U.S.
|
| Men | 56% | 34%
|
Women | 48% |
38% |
H.S. Grad/Less | 47% |
42% |
Some College | 52% |
35% |
College/Post Grad. | 61% |
26% |
|
Methodology
This ABCNEWS.com survey was conducted by telephone Jan. 5-9, among a random national sample of 1,016 adults. The results have a three-point error margin. Field work was done by ICR-International Communications Research of Media, Pa. 
|
|
|
|
|
 |
RELATED STORIES
ARCHIVE
|