Immigration Poll - Americans Prefer House [Hr 4437] Approach
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/3839349.html
May 4, 2006, 1:03AM
Zogby poll on legal status goes against tide
By GEBE MARTINEZ
Copyright 2006 Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON - A poll conducted for a group that wants immigration restricted shows that two-thirds of American voters agree with its goal and that only 43 percent favor a Senate bill that would let most illegal immigrants apply for legal status.
The poll, conducted by Zogby International for the Center for Immigration Studies, runs counter to recent surveys by news organizations that show voters favoring a Senate plan to provide "earned legalization" for about 10 million illegal immigrants.
In the latest Zogby survey, 69 percent responded favorably to the House bill, which was described as a plan "that does not increase the number of people allowed into the country legally." A virtually equal portion said legal and illegal immigration should be reduced.
The poll interviewed 1,008 likely voters between April 17 and April 24 and had a margin of error of 3.1 percentage points.
Support for the Senate bill was lower in the poll for the Center for Immigration Studies because the bill was described as doubling the number of green cards "in the future from 1 to 2 million a year," said research director Steven Camarota.
Experts generally agree with the green card estimate.
"When you tell them that, they don't like that," Camarota said of the proposed legalization plan. "They say, 'What?' "
The poll's methodology was faulted by Tamar Jacoby, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute for Public Research, which is urging passage of the Senate bill.
"If you look at polling done by all the major polling organizations this past month, voters do think that illegal immigrants here should have a chance to earn their way to citizenship," Jacoby said. "There's been a sea change in public opinion."
The Zogby survey overlapped with an NBC/Wall Street Journal poll, conducted April 21-24, in which 61 percent favored letting illegal immigrants stay if they pass a security check, pay taxes and meet other conditions similar to those listed in the pending Senate bill.
Pollsters have been closely tracking voter sentiment on the immigration issue, especially since late March, when immigrant rights activists began staging marches that have drawn about 2 million people across the country.
gebe.martinez@chron.com