Immigration policy has been among the key important issues leading up to the midterm election on Nov. 4, and a new report showed how Americans view immigrants in the U.S.

Approximately 7-in-10 Americans, or 71 percent, said undocumented immigrants in the U.S. should gain legal status if "certain requirements" are met. According to the Pew Research Center, the two methods of obtaining legal status are applying for U.S. citizenship, which received 42 percent, and applying for permanent residency, which received 25 percent. One-in-four Americans, however, said undocumented immigrants should not be allowed to stay in the U.S.

Based on Pew Research Center's report, the overall support for undocumented immigrants receiving a "legal pathway" to stay in the U.S. has "little changed" from earlier this year.

The support for a pathway of legal status is considerably large among Democrats and Republicans. Democrats showed the most support with 82 percent and 16 percent in opposition, while Republicans were a bit narrower with 57 percent in favor and 39 percent opposed.

Blacks and whites are also supportive of undocumented immigrants staying in the U.S., legally, if certain requirements are met with 74 percent and 67 percent, respectively. The Latino population in the Pew Research Center's study showed the most support with 88 percent supporting a pathway to legal status. Specifically, Latinos, at 51 percent, said the undocumented immigrants may stay in the U.S. if an application for citizenship is filed, while 32 percent preferred the undocumented immigrants receive permanent residency.

According to respondents, the Republican Party could do a better job on immigration than the Democratic Party. Based on the registered voters participating in the survey, 44 percent said Republicans could a better job on immigration than 39 percent for Democrats. Republicans also fared better than Democrats when asked on handling terrorism, budget deficit, economy and health care.

A survey from October 2010 also showed Republicans ahead of Democrats on doing a better job on immigration with 37 percent to 30 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, 33 percent claimed either both, neither or were unsure.

Despite the registered voters believing Republicans could handle certain issues better than Democrats, the GOP's favorable rating are lower than Democrats. The GOP received a 39 percent favorable rating, while 55 percent had an unfavorable view of the political party. Meanwhile, Democrats received a 47 percent favorable rating, but the unfavorable rating was narrowly higher at 48 percent.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to issue an executive action on immigration between Election Day and the end of this year if comprehensive legislation reform is not passed by Congress. Obama set the timetable while attending the annual Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute Gala on Oct. 2.

"I've said before that if Congress failed to live up to its responsibilities to solve this problem, I would act to fix as much of our immigration system as I can on my own, and I meant what I said. So this is not a question of if but when," Obama said.

The Pew Research Center survey was conducted between Oct. 15 and Oct. 20, with 2,003 adults including 1,494 registered voters.

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