Posted on 03/30/2007 12:09:39 AM PDT by neverdem
At first blush, that question seems ridiculous. Each of us, it seems, knows exactly how we feel about immigration, legal and illegal. What is more, each of us seems very sure that we hold a majority view. And each of us -- from immigration doves like the editorial page writers for the Wall Street Journal to immigration hawks like Tom Tancredo -- tends to hold his view with some vehemence.
Dozens, if not hundreds, of polls have been taken on the subject. Polls, of course, often produce tendentious results -- it depends on how you ask questions. And there are now polls of polls and roundups of polls galore on the subject. I started searching polls after reading a column by Jeff Jacoby in which he said, basing his conclusion on a Gallup poll, that 59 percent of Americans favor some sort of path to legality for existing illegal immigrants.
That poll most certainly exists. I have placed a link to it, and to Jeff Jacoby's original two columns on immigration, at the end of this column. I have similarly placed links to other polls I cite at the end of the column, rather than break up the presentation in text.
THE GALLUP RESULTS ARE ECHOED in many other polls. Fox News' Opinion Dynamics polls, from April of 2006, found that 69 percent of respondents favored allowing illegal immigrants currently in the country to stay under a grant of legal guest worker status.
Time magazine, in a poll summarized by Immigration Forum, and taken in March of 2006, finds that 79 percent of responders favor a "guest worker" program. Some 80 percent favor letting illegal immigrants stay if they have a job, learn English, and pay taxes.
But Gallup's result on the deportation question differs sharply from...
(Excerpt) Read more at spectator.org ...
These Shamesty folks better hurry, their crap polling won't be worth a wooden nickel as soon as the Islamist imedded in this country go HOT...
The WSJ must be ready to publish another screed on Open Borders.
Shouldn't the title read, "What do we think about ILLEGAL Immigration?" I'm sick of this crap. If you come to the U.S. without permission, you're an illegal alien, a criminal.....you're NOT an "immigrant." Sheesh.
Integration with Mexico and points south rolls merrily along.
When I step back and look at immigration, both legal and illegal, it seems to me we have opened the flood gates. Ya'll may think I'm crazy but I guage who is living around me by the grocery store. I shop at the evil Super Walmart, in recent years, it has become the international market. One of the Walmarts on the other side of town is just plain spanish. That's it. If you are white and go in there you are one of very, very few that speak english. The one I actually shop at, I've been going to for 14 years. It is more diverse, although still very little english. An amazing amount of muslims, full burkas and all. This has all changed in the past 4 or 5 years, I didn't choose to live in Little Mexico or Somalia. My youngest is in the 4th grade, when he started kindergarten we had 3 kids in the ESOL class, now we have 3 classrooms. I don't remember it being like that when I grew up. Sure there were immigrants but I never felt like a minority. I don't care what people call me but I like being an American in America. If I wanted to live in a foreign country I would move there.
Yeah, but that's way more than most open borders advocates would like us to believe.
That's the way we have guaged our area, too. My husband often refers to one walmart as the meximart. I would never send my child to the schools here now.
Just as expected, the Open Borders lobby has pulled out the stops for the good immigrant crap...from WSJ/OJ today:
"Save Our Cities, Immigrants have rescued Americans from urban blight"
Here's the Time Mag Poll
Remeber when people are told how many 'guest worker' programs we now have they are AGAINST IT.
http://www.time.com/time/covers/1101040920/ Do you think the U.S. is doing enough to secure its borders?
Yes 19.8%
NO 79.9%
Total Votes Cast: 42, 291
I really support increased surveillance of the borders, but I have questions about the fence that I haven't seen addressed. What will happen to animals who depend on the water in the Rio Grand? How do cattlemen who water their stock like this plan?
Also, I feel the denial of "privileges" like driver's licenses or public education will swell the entitlement programs with a new underclass that expects welfare handouts.
Well, that just means that we need to choose our language properly in the public sphere. We should be a party that pushes "secure our borders", not "oppose guest workers". The policy would be the same; all that would change would be how we refer to it.
>>We should be a party that pushes "secure our borders", not "oppose guest workers". The policy would be the same; all that would change would be how we refer to it.<<
The trouble with the terms "guest workers" and "immigration reform" is, obviously, that to some, they mean giving some kind of amnesty without secure borders. Hell, even the pro-amnesty crowd uses the phrase "secure borders."
We like to call Wal-Mart, the "Wally Martinez" store. =)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.