Jun 27 2007
Another Poll Confirms The Amnesty Hypochondriacs Small Minority
The Amnesty Hypochondriacs who oppose any legislation that provides a path, with retribution to society, for the illegal aliens here claim to represent 75% of the people. OK, ego-maniacal observations aside (that would mean the GOP had enormous leads in Congress) we also have polls and other DATA to understand what is really going on here. Some question the clearly simple math I used on the Senate vote to note that the immigration hypochondriacs only garnered 25% support. Well it is pretty easy to do the math. 24 GOP members voted ‘naye’ (the rest were liberals who felt the bill was too harsh on immigrants. 24 out of 99 is…?
While the hypochondriacs mull over that little problem we have a new poll out from CNN/Opinion Research which shows an interesting and similar result:
A CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll released Monday showed 47 percent of Americans opposed the bill, while 30 percent supported it and 19 percent said they didn’t know enough about it to make a judgment. The poll’s sampling error was plus or minus 3 percentage points.
However, the poll found a significant division among opponents of the immigration plan. About 28 percent said they were opposed because it did too much to help illegal immigrants, but 15 percent said they were opposed because it did too little.
There is that same number again – 28%! The far right cannot claim (but they do try) alliance with liberals who would truly open the borders and provide immediate citiznship to illegals here now. If they do they are only kidding themselves. But the pollsters make a valid point:
So while much of the opposition to the bill has come from those who believe it is too soft on illegal immigration, the poll found that 45 percent of Americans either support the bill or want it to be more immigrant-friendly, compared to 28 percent who feel it’s already too immigrant-friendly.
Ooppps. No where near the 75% the far right claims they represent! And let’s not forget those undecideds – who are probably more likely the ‘who the hell cares anymore’ crowd. The point is these 19 percent don’t have a position – and they DO NOT agree with the 28% who are the amnesty hypochondriacs. Finally, in a 50-50 nation between Rep and Dem support at the polls 28% is not a solid majority. And all those traitors and quislings on the right who support Bush will not be allying again anytime soon with the hypochondriacs so they could even hope to get near 50% again. These are strong indicators that there is no wide spread support for the far right, and in fact they are rapidly forcing the vast majority of people to line up AGAINST them.
Update: And another poll out showing similar results (remember opposition comes from far left AND far right – so only a subset are from the far right)
To correctly gauge the difference of this issue, we asked people whether they would favor or oppose creating a program that would allow illegal immigrants already living in the United States for a number of years to stay in the country and apply for U.S. citizenship. Then, there was a twist — the question one-half of our sample read continued “if they had a job and paid back taxes” while the question the other half read concluded “even if they don’t pay back taxes”.
Not surprisingly, there was a large difference. Well over half (57%) of adults who had the first statement with the back tax provision favored such a program while two in five (39%) opposed. Among the adults who had the provision of not paying back taxes, two-thirds (66%) opposed such a program while only one-quarter (28%) favored it.
Under certain conditions – those outlined in the bill as opposed to some cherry picked by partisans – the country still supports “amnesty”. And I would wager that 39% opposition is 25% far right and 14% far left, give or take a few points. Which can be seen in the polls internals:
Partisan leanings also show a split on this divisive issue. When back taxes are included, two-thirds of Democrats (65%) favor this program as do 56 percent of Independents. Republicans are split straight down the middle as 49 percent favor it and 49 percent oppose it.
The 25% “majority” marches on, splitting the GOP in half and making it impotent on all other issues.
Update: OK, now a third poll.
In the study, respondents stated that they strongly agreed with the statement, “The nation’s immigration system was broken,†with a rating of eight (8.03) on a ten point scale. They also felt (6.9) that “Building more fences will not stop the flow of immigrants into the U.S.â€
Most favored the statement, “A legal path to permanent residency and eventual citizenship should be available to all immigrants who have built a life in this country.†Two-thirds (66.6%) of those surveyed expressed their support and only about one-in-four (26%) disagreed with the statement.
All these folks must be working for Ted Kennedy of course, that is the only reason the same result keeps coming up. Folks, you can only cook the polls so much and MAYBE move them 5-7 points. We are not in the 5-7 point range. And there is that mid 20’s number again. Imagine that?
No, I said what I meant. It was a waste of time and resources to make sure we sent these people back for a year. And seeing this as a waste of time and resources has nothing to do with that dribble you wrote.
You can stop pretending to speak for me BGG – you do such a lousy job of articulating my positions.
Actually it didn’t take me long to develop the skills I need to articulate your positions perfectly.
I’ll shock everyone…AJ is right on the touchback. It accomplishes nothing.
Unfortunately, Senator Webb’s amendment lost out.
That’s too bad Mike M – it would have passed if the far right wasn’t doing all they could to kill the bill instead of making it better.
BGG – don’t hurt yourself slapping yourself on the back!
LOL!
AJ I will admit even Rasmussen is showing some shifts this week
Here is the latest from Monday’s poll.
Among the public, there is a bi-partisan lack of enthusiasm for the Senate bill. It is supported by 22% of Republicans, 23% of Democrats, and 22% of those not affiliated with either major party. It is opposed by 52% of Republicans, 50% of Democrats, and 48% of unaffiliateds. From an ideological perspective, the bill is opposed by 59% of conservatives, 54% of liberals, and 45% of political moderates. Among those for whom none of the traditional ideological labels apply, just 20% are opposed. Support is found from 20% of conservatives, 32% of liberals, and 18% of moderates. Just 32% believe it would be better to pass the current bill instead of doing nothing. Forty-five percent (45%) believe it would be better to pass nothing at all. If the current bill passed, 71% of American voters believe that another bill would be required to focus on securing the border and reducing illegal immigration. That’s up from 65% in our previous survey.
When you are quoting polls with such a diametric swing of support/opposition even you should be looking for the reason behind why the polls so much of a divergence between conclusions.
Still the fact exists that overwhelmingly when you consider ALL polls other than non scientific internet polls the issue clearly shows more opposition than support.
Crosspatch, I’m not so sure the repubs are going to get waxed in the next election. Have you been reading any of the lefty blogs like huffpo and Kos? The dems are as angry and against this legislation as are those on the right, oh excuse me, the FAR right. From what I can see, a lot of lefties are really as angry with their elected representatives as the right. So I think that the net effect could be a wash. I’m going to vote for the republican candidate no matter who it is.
More from the same report, notice the referral to other polls consistent with Rasmussen
Rasmussen Reports and other firms have consistently found majority support for a hypothetical bill combining border security and legalized status for the 12 million or so illegal aliens already in the country. However, the data has also shown a huge gap between support for the actual legislation and a hypothetical bill. The reason for the gap is simple—reducing illegal immigration is the first priority for voters but only 16% believe the Senate bill would reduce illegal immigration. In fact, 41% believe the Senate bill would make things worse and lead to even more illegal immigration.
Rasmussen Reports was the first polling firm to document the broad public opposition to the Senate bill. Since then, the findings have been confirmed by and NBC/Wall Street Journal survey and by the Democratic polling firm Greenberg Quinlan. Even polls touted by supporters of the legislation showed a strong desire for more serious enforcement measures. A CBS News/New York Times survey, found that 69% of Americans want illegal aliens prosecuted and deported.
Of the 64 who voted yesterday to reopen debate, they have already lost 2. Bond and Nelson. Webb is iffy now. This is getting interesting again.
Thank You Merlin.
Put Norm Coleman in the iffy column.
Sue,
I hate to point this out but Coleman is not iffy anymore than he was yesterday. Neither is Nelson or others who could easily vote for cloture and then vote against the bill in the final vote.
I know senators and they made a pledge to ‘bring this to a vote’. That is why they voted “aye” yesterday. They will not go back on that promise. Last round Kyl promised to not cut off debate, even though he wanted to. He kept his word then even though he knew it would risk being tabled by Ried.
Your word to your fellow sentors is critical in the Senate. All your ‘iffy’s are not really on the cloture vote. Their opposition will be held for the final vote – or no one would have voted “aye” yesterday on the GOP side.
Just some realism from the Hill and how it works.
We’ll see.
Salazar trying the “race” card with a hugh placard of an American soldier who was born from illegals.
Tubby Teddy at the podium. Gage me with a spoon time.
Cornyn stated that this bill DOES NOT add additional border security. (Tubby screaming but I have it on mute). Cornyn also said that this bill was no better than the legislation in 1986.
Send 1 million illegals from Texas to Hyannisport.
Vitter (La-R) asks if he and others will be allowed to present amendments; Reid goes into some diatribe about how this bill has been considered fair by those WHO WROTE IT and in other words, “NO”.
The current “clay pigeon” amendmest bill was just presented to the Senate while Cornyn was at the podium. It is now 400 pages. Reid wants a final “cloture” vote first thing in the morning. Vitter said he and his staff spent the night reading the first “clay pigeon” that is now no longer in effect.
The amendments in the “clay pigeon” was hand picked by Reid, Kyl and Kennedy. The “new” amendment package was written by Tubby Teddy’s staff who took no imput from other Senators.
Yep, the pidgeon is doing its job. And it is legal. I think we all should be proud of our democratic process in work and remember it is our democracy that makes this country great.
Not whether we win or lose votess.
AJ, never in our history as a republic has the “clay pigeon” been used. If you see this break from precedent as a good thing, it says all that is needed to say about your attitude about what our Senate was designed to do.
How will you feel when the “clay pigeon” rule is used to defund our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq?
Votes 56-41 to table the Bond amendment to prevent any illegal from ever getting a green card.
The amendment is tabled (dead).
R05,
I am fine with it. It’s legal so it is fine with me. Glad to see the Bond amendment go down too. The poison pills are dropping like flies.
BTW, for those who do not know the clay pidgeon can ONLY be used if the minority leader agrees to it. So it cannot be used against Reps in the future without their consent.
More Chicken Little droppings.
I don’t think that is correct. In fact, I know it isn’t.
This, my friend, is the clay pigeon rule and it says nothing about needing approval from the minority leader. In fact, it is a procedure normally used by the minority party, not the majority party. But oh well. If it gets AJ his amnesty bill all’s right in his world.