Thread: Bush loses base over immigration issue

Survey: Bush Loses Base Over Immigration Issue

Posted by Bobby Eberle
June 14, 2007 at 5:24 am


If President Bush is looking for a legacy, he may have found it. Talk is that the president sees the overhaul of America’s immigration system as his gift to the country… his crowning achievement. It’s hard to believe that the walls of the White House are so thick, that not a single voice from the grassroots is getting through. As seen in GOPUSA’s latest survey, President Bush is losing the Republican base, and the party is suffering because of it.

In a survey conducted this week (view full survey results here) by GOPUSA’s Grassroots Survey Team, respondents were asked to comment on the on-going debate over illegal immigration reform and to indicate their approval of the job President Bush is doing.


Since GOPUSA created the Grassroots Survey Team, we have tracked presidential approval and for all of 2006, the number was relatively high and consistent. In March 2006, survey team members gave President Bush an 81% approval rating. In June of the same year, it was 77%. In September, the rating was 80%, and in October, the rating was 84%.

Then, as the immigration debate resurfaced and President Bush continued to push legislation that is completely counter to the feelings of not only Republicans but the general public, his approval among survey team members has taken a nose dive. In April 2007, presidential approval sank to 65%. But in this week’s survey of over 2,700 respondents, the president’s approval fell to a dismal 40%.



It is startling that the President and some members of the Senate just don’t get it. A recent poll by Scott Rasmussen looked into why the immigration bill failed in the Senate. According to Rasmussen:

The immigration bill failed because a broad cross-section of the American people are opposed to it. Republicans, Democrats, and unaffiliated voters are opposed. Men are opposed. So are women. The young don’t like it; neither do the no-longer-young. White Americans are opposed. Americans of color are opposed.

The last Rasmussen Reports national telephone poll found that just 23% of Americans supported the legislation. When a bill has less popular support than the War in Iraq, it deserves to be defeated.

Then, Rasmussen, in his discussion of the poll results, hit on a key conclusion that the White House misses (or refuses to see) over and over again.

In the minds of most Americans, immigration reform means reducing illegal immigration and enforcing the border. Only 16% believed the Senate bill would accomplish that goal.

It wasn’t amnesty or guest-worker programs or paths to citizenship that doomed the bill. Each of those provisions made it more difficult for some segments of the population to accept. However, most voters were willing to accept them as part of a true compromise that accomplished the primary goal of reducing illegal immigration.

The key to winning voter support was to accomplish that primary goal.

Rasmussen is right, and the results of GOPUSA’s Grassroots Survey Team support his conclusions. When asked about various areas of the illegal immigration issue, 97% of respondents said that it was “very importantâ€

Boosh is not a true Rep. He is a wolf in sheep's clothing only pretending to do what is best for the new world order. Party affiliation makes no difference to jorge or any other globalization freak.

First of all, how can they possibly blame the Republican base, when this latest crap bill was a combination of BOTH parties?
I'm sick of hearing stories like this! All in the Rep base who stood against this bill should be seen as heroes of the American people, not racists, problem makers, close minded, xenophoebes, or any other anit-American label.
The truth is, more dems backed this bill than Reps, but regardless of party affiliation, the bigger picture here is WHAT IS BEST FOR AMERICA AND AMERICANS!
In keeping up with our calls, faxes, emails, etc. please do not forget to thank the Senators and Congressman that are standing fast against this bill. Regardless of their party affiliation, they are doing what is best for America!