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The partisan chasm on immigration

So President Trump wants Congress to solve the “Dreamers" issue in six months? Here's a reality check on why any immigration legislation falls apart once Congress gets ahold of it. This poll, from Quinnipiac University last month, shows that Republicans and Democrats aren't just divided on what to do about undocumented immigrants. They live in different universes, with independents somewhere in the middle of the huge chasm.

Data: Quinnipiac University Poll, August 16, 2017; Note: Don't know responses not shown; Chart: Andrew Witherspoon / Axios

The bottom line: The issue before Congress — what to do about undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children — is just a subset of the broader immigration debate. But these kind of numbers show why immigration legislation has always been a graveyard in Congress, and why the odds have been against a deal to give legal protections to the Dreamers.

Yes, but: President Trump's deal with Democratic leaders on the debt limit may have changed that.