Rasmussen Poll: Voters Prefer Border Enforcement to Amnesty by Two to One
08/22/2011
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President Obama’s recent administrative amnesty runs contrary to the public will (not to mention the Constitutional limits to Presidential power) as shown by recent polling.

Despite the media’s relentless propaganda about the bogus desirability of illegals, e.g. young aliens in student costumes demanding taxpayer-subsidized college educations, the voting public remains firm in favoring enforcement over rewards for lawbreakers

.Illegals filing across the border

Obama’s amnesty with work permits takes place amid the worst unemployment crisis in America since the Great Depression, and will displace citizens from scarce jobs. The amnesty sends the message to the world that even terrible suffering by Americans will not cause Washington to get serious about border and workplace enforcement. Would-be illegal aliens understand that if they make it over the porous border into the interior, they will not be deported under the Obama reign.

 

Voters Put Border Control Ahead of Amnesty by 2-1 Margin, Rasmussen Reports, August 20, 2011

Even as the Obama administration moves to slow the pace of deportation for illegal immigrants, voters continue to believe strongly that gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers already living in the United States.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters shows that 61% say gaining control of the border is most important when it comes to immigration reform, while 31% say it’s more important to legalize the status of the illegal immigrants who are already here. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

At the same time, 57% of voters agree that the goal of U.S. immigration policy should be to keep out national security threats, criminals and those who would come here to live off our welfare system. Beyond that, all immigrants would be welcome. Twenty-five percent (25%) disagree with this kind of immigration policy. Eighteen percent (18%) are undecided.

Results for both questions have remained consistent in surveys going back to 2006.

Voters are showing less concern that anti-immigration efforts also will end up violating the civil rights of some U.S. citizens, and most continue to oppose automatic citizenship for children born in the United States to illegal immigrants. [. . .]

Most Republicans (83%) and voters not affiliated with either political party (63%) say border control is the top priority of any immigration reform effort. A majority (54%) of Democrats say legalizing the status of the illegal immigrants already in this country is more important.

Ninety percent (90%) of Tea Party members put border control first, compared to 53% of non-members.  

Most Political Class voters (63%) say legalizing undocumented workers should be the top goal of immigration reform, but 71% of Mainstream voters disagree and say border control should be the priority.

White voters favor border control over legalization by a 65% to 27% margin. But black voters and voters of all other ethnicities are more narrowly divided on the question.

More voters continue to favor tougher laws against employers who hire illegal immigrants than against landlords who rent to them. But support for strong sanctions against both employers and landlords are at record highs.

Voters continue to believe U.S. society is fair and decent, while the number who believes immigrants should adopt American culture hovers around the all-time low.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters think a state should have the right to enforce immigration laws if it believes the federal government is not enforcing them. Most also believe that policies of the federal government encourage illegal immigration.

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