Puerto Rico Wants To Keep Its Status The Same, Poll Says (CORRECTED)

Puerto Rico doesnt want to rock the boat.

Some 51 percent of Puerto Ricans say they wont vote to change the islands relationship with the United States in a plebiscite vote scheduled for Nov. 6, according to a poll published this week by El Nuevo Da.

In a second question, Puerto Ricans were asked which of the other four proposals on the table they prefer. Only 4 percent of Puerto Ricans said theyd like their government to become completely independent of the United States, while 44 percent say theyd like the island to become a U.S. state.

Another 42 percent said theyd like to become a freely associated sovereign state -- a type of independence in close alliance with the United States, similar to the arrangement the U.S. has with the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, according to a White House report on Puerto Rico's status issued in 2011. Under such a scheme, Puerto Ricans would no longer automatically become U.S. citizens, though they could work and attend schools in the United States, the report says.

The consultation, set for a vote on Nov. 6, is not legally binding. But if a solid majority voted to become a state or go independent, it would give a mandate to the local and federal government to take the steps necessary to change Puerto Ricos status. Puerto Ricos statehood would have to be ratified by Congress.

That poll isnt great news for conservative Gov. Luis Fortuo, who wants the island to become the 51st U.S. state. The figure hasnt budged since the last El Nuevo Da poll in May . Puerto Ricans have voted on their status at least three times since arriving at the commonwealth arrangement in the 1950s, and each time voters elected to keep it the same.

Fortuo backed the implementation this year of a program to transition Puerto Ricos public schools toward teaching most classes in English rather than Spanish over the next 10 years. Most jobs on the island require knowledge of English, according to Puerto Ricos Education Secretary Edward Moreno Alonso.

The United States invaded Puerto Rico when it was still a Spanish colony during the War of 1898, along with Cuba, Guam and the Philippines. The U.S. extended citizenship rights -- including military conscription -- to Puerto Rico in 1917.

Some 4.6 million people of Puerto Rican origin live in the United States , compared to 3.7 million on the island, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story mistakenly referred to "freely associated sovereign state" as a voluntarily limited type of independence in which the U.S. would control defense and give economic aid. While that's the arrangement the United States currently has under compacts with Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau, if Puerto Rico were to become a freely associated sovereign state , the island's government would negotiate any aspects of its relationship with the United States, including defense.