Immigration policy poll breaks stereotypes

[unixronin]

A new Rasmussen Reports poll finds that 58% of Americans polled favor and would support an immigration policy "that would welcome all immigrants except national security threats, criminals and those who would come here to live off our welfare system.”

Here's the really interesting detail:  That support for a "welcoming" immigration policy is stronger among declared Republicans than among declared Democrats.  The idea of a generally welcoming immigration policy, according to the poll, is opposed by 31% of unaffiliated and 28% of Democratic voters, but only by 19% of GOP voters.  How's that for a stereotype turned on its head?

Comments

[docstrange.livejournal.com]

It is the "free market" policy, after all. Didn't know there were too many true libertarians left there in that GOP thang.

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

Well, if you look at it terms of manor lords and the desire for cheap serf labor, it makes sense.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

If that were the motivation, one would expect them to prefer illegal immigrant labor, which is even cheaper because the illegals have very little resource for mistreatment. They can't very well go to the Department of Labor.

[luxobscura.livejournal.com]

It's just a ploy to avoid tighter border security.

[lebo-superman.livejournal.com]

Does the poll differentiate between legal and illegal immigrants? I'm one who welcomes anyone who follows existing law to come to our country the right way - - but I frown heavily on anyone who's very act of entering our country is a criminal one. If they are willing to break that law, how many others do they think "don't apply" to them, just because they don't like the laws?

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

It does, yes. From the very first sentence of the article:

"While Americans continue to strongly support efforts that will slow or stop illegal immigration, most also still favor a generally welcoming policy of legal immigration."

(Emphasis mine.)

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

Actually, decades ago, the Democrats were the anti-immigration party. A large part of the Democratic Party's voter base belonged to trade unions. Trade unions tended to support anti-immigration policies on the idea that allowing large-scale immigration tended to depress wages. OTOH lower wages were good for their buddies in business, so the Republicans were pro-immigration. Republicans playing on xenophobia is a relatively recent phenomenon.

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

Yet the current stereotype the Democratic party likes to disseminate is that it is the party of the downtrodden underdog, while those nasty elitist Republicans hate brown people on sight and want to keep America for decent upstanding white folks.

[polaris93.livejournal.com]

The Democrats also were the party of slavery before the Civil War, and after it were the party of the Jim Crow laws. Exactly the opposite of the way they try to bill themselves now. Oh, and they're still just as bigoted -- they're just trying any way they can to whitewash over the gangrene.

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

check out AZ's new "if you're brown, get out of town" thing.

"papers please"

obama of course, might send his lacky squad to sue them.

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[randwolf.livejournal.com]

It's Rasmussen, so I wonder about the wording of the questions and selections of the sample. Oh, here are the questions (http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/toplines/pt_survey_toplines/april_2010/toplines_immigration_april_22_23_2010). I don't think this is a very reliable poll.