IMMIGRATION PLAN Poll: weak Hispanic backing

KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
MIAMI -- President Bush's proposal to give temporary legal status to millions of undocumented workers has drawn lukewarm support among Hispanics, the group likely to be most affected by changes in immigration law, according to a national poll released Thursday.
About 42 percent of Hispanics at least vaguely familiar with the plan supported Bush's proposal, 20 percent opposed it, and 38 percent said they did not know about the plan or did not have enough information to have an opinion.
But opposition to the plan, which Bush announced Jan. 7, surged when those polled were told that the plan would eventually require most temporary workers to return to their native countries.
Knowing that, 45 percent of Hispanics supported the plan, but 45 percent opposed it.
The telephone poll of 800 Hispanics was conducted in English and Spanish, included legal and undocumented Hispanics and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
It was conducted Jan. 20 to 26 by Bendixen & amp; Associates, a Miami-based company.
"We saw a very, very strong shift in public opinion when we informed them about the major elements of the proposal," said Sergio Bendixen, whose company conducted the poll for New California Media, a nationwide coalition of ethnic news organizations.
Bush proposed a program to allow undocumented people already working in the United States and foreigners who have job offers in the States to apply for temporary legal status for up to six years.