Apparently Reuters/Ipsos just released a poll in which the majority of Americans want undocumented Immigrants deported. It's obvious that the Republican party has a lot of work to do in order to get the conservative crowd on board with Comprehensive Immigration Reform. I say the Republican party because another poll by Reuters/Ipsos reports that 75% of Republicans indicated that all or most undocumented Immigrants should be deported.
After years of misinformation Republicans and conservatives pundits have absolutely soured their constituents on Immigrants. In devaluing the undocumented worker with statements from border governor's like Jan Brewer, Immigration Reform is going to be a hard sell. We watched John McCain's town hall meeting last night at a 98% white community (CDP) in Arizona called Sun Lakes in which he was absolutely berated by attendees. Hey, when for years you're hearing things like, "it's an invasion, it's absolutely invasion", "It's out of control, it's simply out of control", "there are decapitated bodies in our Arizona desert." How do you think the uninformed white person is going to react? By the way those comments all came from Jan Brewer.
McCain, Flake, Rubio and the rest of the Republicans who either participated in the extremist rhetoric or stood by idly allowing the misinformation to be spread, have a gargantuan task at hand.
Unfortunately for those Republicans trying to sell the concept of CIR to your average Republican or Anglo, there are still many extremist Republican politicians like Tea Party favorite Rafael "Ted" Cruz (R) Texas making themselves prevalent in the conversation and calling any reform amnesty. Apparently Cruz never got the memo.
You reap what you sow. If the Republicans can't pull this off, they will continue to become less and less relevant in the upcoming elections. It's the demographics stupid! .
(Reuters) - More than half of U.S. citizens believe that most or all of the country's 11 million illegal immigrants should be deported, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday that highlights the difficulties facing lawmakers trying to reform the U.S. immigration system.
The online survey shows resistance to easing immigration laws despite the biggest push for reform in Congress since 2007.
Thirty percent of those polled think that most illegal immigrants, with some exceptions, should be deported, while 23 percent believe all illegal immigrants should be deported.
Only 5 percent believe all illegal immigrants should be allowed to stay in the United States legally, and 31 percent want most illegal immigrants to stay.
ISSUE POLARIZES POLICYMAKERS
Attitudes toward immigration are polarized by party, according to another the Reuters/Ipsos poll. Seventy-five percent of Republicans think all or most immigrants should be deported, compared to 40 percent of Democrats who think the same.
Carlos E. Galindo is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host & political analyst conducting radio shows in both English and Spanish on radio stations in Arizona. Mr. Galindo is a weekly contributor to KPFK 98.7 FM Los Angeles and W60 AM Radio, Los Angeles, San Diego and has appeared on CNN, Univision and Telemundo as a political analyst. Mr. Galindo is also an Op-Ed columnist on Prensa Hispana and the Tucson Citizen in Arizona. Carlos Galindo is President and founder of the Immigrant Advocacy Foundation, Inc.
http://www.carlosgalindo.com