Poll: Public Wants Illegals to Go Home

We keep hearing how hard liners on illegal immigration lost their elections last year and that is not true. Many of the Dems that won the elections ran on a hard line on illegal immigration. Well here are some reaal polls.

From The Eagle Forum:

Contrary to the new Senate bill, most Americans want less and not more immigration. When told the number of immigrants here and the number coming, 70 percent of voters said the level is too high, 19 percent said it is about right, and 5 percent said too low.

* 75% of Republicans said immigration is too high, 5% said too low.

* 69% of Democrats said immigration is too high, 6% said too low.

* 71% of self described moderates said immigration is too high, 4% said too low.

Public prefers that illegals go home, rather than be legalized. 58 percent of voters said they wanted illegals to go home, compared to 30 percent who favored legalization. The public still overwhelmingly supported enforcement over legalization even when many conditions are imposed on illegals like paying a fine, learning English and undergoing a background check.

Americans support enforcement to make illegals go home. When presented by itself, 79 percent of the public said they supported reducing the illegal immigrant population by increasing border enforcement, penalizing employers, and increasing cooperation with local law enforcement, while 15 percent were opposed. No other proposal had near this level of support.

I don't usually like polls but I read the questions on this one and it is a good poll. You can read it your self here (PDF) and the details here (PDF)

And from the Center for Immigration studies last year...

WASHINGTON , D.C. (October 16, 2006) -- A new poll, using neutral language, finds intense voter concern over immigration in 14 tight congressional races. The surveys were conducted by the polling company for the Center for Immigration Studies.

In addition to a national survey, detailed polling on immigration was conducted in four contested Senate races (click on the state/district to see the results): Missouri, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Montana; and in 10 contested House races: Arizona 5^th, Connecticut 4^th, Indiana 8^th, Kentucky 4^th, Pennsylvania 6^th, Texas 17^th, Louisiana 3^rd, Georgia 8^th, Colorado 7^th, and Ohio 6^th.

Among the findings:

• Immigration is a big issue throughout country. Of likely voters nationally, 53 percent said immigration was either their most important issue or one of their top three issues, while just 8 percent said it was not at all important. With the exception of CT-4^th, in races surveyed only about 10 percent of voters said it was not important at all.
  

• When told numbers, voters want less immigration. When told the actual number of immigrants here (legal and illegal) and the number coming (legal and illegal), and asked to put aside the question of legal status, 68 percent of voters nationally thought immigration was too high, 21 percent about right, and just 2 percent thought it was too low. In every congressional race surveyed, the share who said overall immigration was too low was in the single digits.
  

• Voters less likely to vote for immigration-increasing candidates. Experts agree that the bill recently passed by the Senate would at least double future legal immigration, yet 70 percent of voters said they would be less likely to vote for a candidate who wanted to double legal immigration. Overwhelming majorities in every battleground race feel the same way.
  

• Voters reject extremes of legalization or mass deportations. Some previous polls have shown support for legalizing illegal immigrants.; But those polls have given the public only a choice between large-scale deportations or an earned legalization, and not the third choice of across-the-board enforcement, causing illegals to go home. This third option, which is the basis of the bill passed by the US House, is voters’ top choice.
  

• U.S. House immigration plan by far the favorite. Enforcement approaches with no increase in legal immigration were the most popular policy option -- 44 percent wanted enforcement that causes illegals to go home, the US House’s approach, and another 20 percent wanted large-scale deportations. Just 31 percent supported a legalization.
  

• Intensity stronger among enforcement supporters. Nationally, 32 percent of voters said they would be much more likely to vote for a candidate who would enforce the law and cause illegals to go home, compared to just 15 percent who said they would be much more likely to vote for a candidate who supports legalization. This same pattern holds in battleground contests.
  

• Voters skeptical of need for unskilled immigrant labor. More than 70 percent of voters nationally agreed that there were, “plenty of Americans to do low-wage jobs that require relatively little education, employers just need to pay higher wages and treat workers better to attract Americans,” compared to 21 percent who said we need immigrants because there were not enough Americans to do all such jobs. The results were very similar in all the contested states and districts surveyed.
  

• Voters think lack of enforcement is reason for illegal immigration. Three out of four voters in the nation agreed that the reason we have illegal immigration is that past enforcement efforts have before “grossly inadequate.” Voters strongly reject the argument that illegal immigration is caused by overly restrictive legal immigration policies. Strong majorities in every battleground contest surveyed felt this way.
  

• Numbers make a difference. One key finding is that when told the scale of immigration (legal and illegal), voters overwhelming thought it was too high. Also when told how much the Senate bill would increase legal immigration voters tended to reject it. This would seem to undermine the argument that voters are only concerned about illegality and not the level of immigration. The level of immigration used in the questions are those widely agreed upon by experts based on government data.

While the Congress is trying to find ways of letting illegal aliens stay in this country, we the people want them gone. You need to tell your elected cockroaches how you feel because they don't get it.

**This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.

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