Posted on 05/06/2005 5:08:06 PM PDT by John Jorsett
A new opinion poll by Zogby International indicates Americans are hardly pleased with the Bush administration on the subject of illegal immigration.
The poll, cited on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" program yesterday, noted a huge majority – 81 percent – believes local and state police should help federal authorities enforce laws against illegal immigration. Only 14 percent disagreed.
Voters were also asked, "Do you support or oppose the Bush administration's proposal to give millions of illegal aliens guest worker status and the opportunity to become citizens?" Only 35 percent gave their support, and 56 percent said no.
"A majority opposed illegal immigration," pollster John Zogby told CNN. "In fact, when you combine those two terms, 'illegal and immigration,' it really conjures up a considerable amount of negatives. And, in fact, we find that it's really across the board."
According to the report, the greatest opponents of illegal immigration are Democrats, African-Americans, women and people with household income below $75,000, those with the most to lose in the job market.
When it came to the status of the nation's borders, respondents were asked, "Do you agree or disagree that the federal government should deploy troops on the Mexican border as a temporary measure to control illegal immigration?" A clear majority – 53 percent – agree, while 40 percent disagree.
"The Minuteman program highlighted the fact that we need more tighter border security," Phil Kent of American Immigration Control Foundation told the network. "So I think these numbers again are good. It's a good civics lesson for the American people. It shows our elected leaders that we want action."
In summing up her report, CNN correspondent Lisa Sylvester noted, "So, while the public wants tougher borders, politicians are pushing to leave them open. A real disconnect."
Dobbs responded to that statement, saying: "The disconnect that you referred to, Lisa, between our elected officials and the people of this country is in no – on no other issue any more dramatic than on the issue of illegal immigration. The Zogby poll is just simply the most recent in a string of polls that show that the American people want their borders secure, they want immigration laws to be enforced, and to clean up what has become an atrocious mess on the part of our elected representatives serving better the interests of U.S. multinationals than the people who are working for a living in this country."
Within a week of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks on the U.S., Zogby polled Americans on border security and immigration issues.
When asked whether the government was doing enough to control the border and screen those allowed into the country, 76 percent said the government was not doing enough.
Regarding future threats to the U.S., 72 percent of likely voters in 2001 said a dramatic increase in resources devoted to border control and enforcement of immigration laws would help reduce the chances of a terrorist attack in the future.
Well DUH!
That's why they're called "undocumented workers" now, kind of like someone who forgot his ID card at work and has to get a temporary one from security.
Democrats want cheap votes and Republicans want cheap subsidized workers for the subsidized farms in the red states. That's why this problem isn't being addressed by either party.
Whichever party in 2008 comes out against illegal immigration will win.
First, this is Zogby, which means you couldn't normally trust it.
But, in this case, he played it safe and polled a question he already knew that enormous results of.
Hope nobody paid him for this.
Next poll:
Do you require air to breath?
The fascinating thing about this poll is that although the GOP base has made the most noise about this issue, it is the Democratic blue collar base (or what is left of it) that is seen as the pollster as the most negative because they know that economic competition with third world labor is reducing their standard of living.
Illegals are taking the kinds of jobs inner city blacks used to get and they know it.
Opinion is divided on eliminating public assistance, such as education and health benefits, to illegal immigrants and their children. Forty-three percent of Americans favor stopping public assistance for illegal immigrants, while 45 percent oppose it.
Even so, a 62 percent majority, including almost equal majorities of Democrats (65 percent) and Republicans (62 percent), favors allowing illegal immigrants who have jobs in the United States to apply for legal, temporary worker status
Oh yes it was zogby who came out with the 5:00 PM election day poll saying kerry was going to win big.
Real good track record there.
True. Look at the construction trades--they're being flooded with illegals that'll work for peanuts, forcing the tradesmen to either compete or get out of the field.
More like tom tancredo, backstabber to Tom Delay 2005.
In my opinion, the Democrat politicians want as many illegals as they can get into the country for future votes, but the Democrat base is angry because the illegals cut in on the money they could scam for themselves from the taxpayers. Without illegals, they could pocket twice as much.
See reply #8.
Why should we believe this pollster?
good gravy!
americans have been fed illegals?
burp.
A zogby poll, is a zogby poll, is a zogby poll.
A pollsters reputation precedes him.
My reply #8 has the results from a Fox/Opinion dynamics poll. I'll let people on FR make up there own mind, they can lap up zogby's special sauce or go with a more reputable pollster.
As far as illegals go - round 'em up and head 'em out.
I think that Republican leadership has been duped by the MSM into believing that "tolerance" of illegals is the majority view. In Massachusetts there are at least 2 sob stories a month in the local media about an illegal who is being "persecuted."
A new opinion poll by Zogby International indicates Americans are hardly pleased with the Bush administration on the subject of illegal immigration.
The poll, cited on CNN's "Lou Dobbs Tonight" program yesterday, noted a huge majority – 81 percent – believes local and state police should help federal authorities enforce laws against illegal immigration. Only 14 percent disagreed
_____________________________________
For those of us who have been beating the keys, posting articles and our expressions of disgust with the inaction of our President and the Congress for over a year, we wonder where has everyone been??
This is another example of the controlled MSM, ignoring the American people and supporting the Socialist Agenda of the Progressive Democrats.
Bush and the GOP had better get with this. This is a potential problem for our side. Hillary and Democrats are liable to come out to the right of us. They may not mean it but perception is reality. Big problem on the horizon.
"Whichever party in 2008 comes out against illegal immigration will win."
Do you really think the issue will get that much attention by then? It would have to be one of the major parties, no third party will prevail on just one issue, it's been tried and has failed.
Who will have credibility? The Dems, no. The Pubbies, no.
They'll have to build this incrementally, this is the next big battle, and it will have to go step by step.
Of course a good first step would be closing/securing the border, and not just the Mexican border, not just the Canadian border, but the borders at the airports.
Visa reform, controlled borders, these are first steps. Throwing out criminal illegals (or increasing the penalties for their crimes to draconian levels) would be step A, even before #1.
I think many Americans MIGHT be willing to CONSIDER some kind of "amnesty" if they KNEW it wouldn't just lead to another flood.
WE've got to stop the current lawless situation. I for one don't trust Hillary! JEB, or even Rudy Giuliani to be any use for any of that.
Tell me, cheap labor Dane, is there some poll out there that says different ? Is there some poll out there that shows blue collar Americans just thrilled about illegals driving down their wages ? You have some poll about Americans construction workers happy about losing their jobs ?
This poll is the latest in a series saying pretty much the same thing. There is a strong grass roots anger about illegal immigration especially among Americans who are hardest hit economically by competition with illegals.
Religious conservatives are blue collar primarily. If the GOP nominates a McCain or a Giuliani who is weak on borders and the Dems nominate someone who at least talks tough on illegal immigration, they will either sit home on election day or cross over.
Ahem, with immigrant labor(Chinese). This is where we got chop suey.
That seems to be the prevailing analysis, but, I'm not convinced of it. I am of the opinion that we do not need to look that deeply. With the Pubs timidity is, more often than not, the answer.
They get demonized everytime they take a firm stand & have not the guts to defend and return fire. Consequently, they give up before the game starts.
In psycho-babble it is refered to as a self fulfilling prophecy.
See reply #8 for a juxtaposition of zogby's poll.
If the majority want the cops to help the feds, why do they elect mayors that forbid the police from helping the feds and legislators who pass laws requiring benefits for illegal aliens, that keep them coming here. If you took away all the benefits, you would see a significant reduction in the numbers.
I forget what thread it was, but the article referred to illegal aliens as "people on the move".
AHEM legal immigrant labor.....
I have never voted for a democrat - not in more than 30 years of voting.
That being said...I agree. I am tired of uncontrolled open borders. I want the invasion stopped.
True. The big joke where I live is that restaurant cooks are all Mexicans, even in Chinese restaurants.
It only makes sense to oppose illegal immigration.
Odds are that there will be some terror event in the future that involves South Americans and/or Mexican gangsters. Which will get everybody's attention.
Everyone would benefit from a fair enforcement of the law.
I'm not surprised that such a supermajority wants something done about it.
if major ity would quit hiring em they'd probably be less likely to keep acoming
The first time I saw Natalie (not her real name but everyone said she looked like a young Natalie Woods) was at a crawfish boil at Bimbos. Natalie was thumbing meat out of the tails for etouffee with her right hand while sucking heads out of her left hand.
She looked up at me with the sweetest, most innocent smile ever seen at Bimbos and said “Hi!” It seems she had just moved out of her parents’ home on the Trinity River and come to Houston to live with her older sister and brother-in-law.
All Natalie had ever known was the river community. The river folk live on land owned by the Trinity River Authority and make a living supplying yellow cats to the restaurants and fish markets in East Texas. Some people say they build their houses out of wood they find floating down the river, but Natalie said her father traded fish to Oggletree’s saw mill for surplus building materials.
Natalie was in hog heaven living in Houston. For a girl reared on black beans, rice and backstrap, even a Big Mac was a special experience.
It didn’t take long for Natalie to hook up with Lance (not his real name), a journeyman electrician who had recently moved to Houston from Michigan. Like most Michigan-Americans he was superb at explaining to us how we did everything wrong in Texas. Especially irksome to him were our laws that permitted nonunion electricians to work on public buildings such as hotels and shopping malls.
Lance was a man of principles, foremost of which was that he would not unlock his tool box for less than prevailing union wage. After the federally related project for which he had moved down here ended, Lance didn’t unlock his toolbox very often. Natalie’s jobs at Children’s World and Wal-Mart made the payments on his mobile home and pickup truck, but not much more.
Under pressure from Natalie’s sister and some regulars at Bimbos, Lance finally agreed to consider jobs for a little less than union wage. But after awhile, instead of taking jobs he simply started complaining that there weren’t any decent jobs because the Mexicans took them all. He quickly learned all the code phrases such as crowded emergency rooms, lowering educational levels, disease, crime, welfare, cultural dilution, invasion, and most righteously, “illegal.”
He could have accepted a steady job with an electrical service company at which a friend of works, but he told owner that he wasn’t going to work for $18 an hour “changing light bulbs at used car lots.” He told Natalie he didn’t get the job because he didn’t speak Spanish.
Instead he talked Natalie into getting a higher paying job at one of the topless clubs outside the city limits that will hire 17 year olds to dance. Lance always appeared remorseful about Natalie having to do what she did, but he was adamant that it wasn’t his fault, it was the fault of the government for letting in all those Mexicans who took all the jobs.
Natalie doesn’t smile anymore. Her sister says Natalie still defends Lance to friends even though she knows that Mexicans aren’t the real reason Lance won’t get a job.
There are many Natalies in America today. Some are young children whose dead-beat fathers are a year behind in child support “because the Mexicans got all the jobs.” Some are parents whose grown sons have moved back home because “ the Mexicans got all the good jobs.”
Some are young men and women who are discouraged from attending technical schools or applying for entry level jobs because they have heard that only Mexicans are being hired.
But ironically, probably the biggest victims are those who are wasting their lives away complaining about Mexicans instead of getting jobs and building normal lives.
Agreed. They're hyper-sensitive to the "racist" label, even though it's so over-used that it means nothing today.
The pubs are in a fish-or-cut-bait situation--their constituents, the blue-collar workers, are getting hammered in the workplace and are looking for relief. On the other side, the pubs don't want to get labeled "racist" by the dems when they so much as clear their throats to talk about immigration. Throw in the pubs' efforts to win over the latino vote and you've got a situation that requires strong leadership, vision and a stiff backbone--something the pubs are seriously lacking. It's just easier to point and yell, "Look, it's Superman!" and run the other way.
You know this is about the billions your illegals and those who hire them are stealing in freebies. No subsidies for you.
(State and Local—LEA--Authority to Enforce Immigration Law.)
"The law on this question is quite clear: arresting aliens who have violated either criminal provisions of the INA or civil provisions that render an alien deportable "IS WITHIN THE INHERENT AUTHORITY OF STATES." And such inherent arrest authority has never been preempted by Congress.
The source of this authority flows from the states’ status as sovereign entities. THEY ARE SOVEREIGN GOVERNMENTS possessing all residual powers not abridged or superceded by the U.S. Constitution. (Emphasis. Added)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1395690/posts
" More like tom tancredo, backstabber to Tom Delay 2005."
Don't you mean " More like George Bush, backstabber to America 2000-2005."
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