Thread: Analysis: Poll data back talk-radio claim

Analysis: Poll data back talk-radio claim
By SHAUN WATERMAN
UPI Homeland and National Security Editor
WASHINGTON, June 25 (UPI) -- The charge that talk radio is defining the immigration debate is borne out by a recent poll that shows that two-thirds of Americans believe the bill to be an amnesty.
"Talk radio defined it," Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., said Sunday of the immigration reform bill, "without us explaining that there were reasons for it, and the good things that were in it."

A UPI-Zogby Interactive poll of 8,300 representative adults nationwide showed that opponents of the reform package do indeed appear to have won the battle to define it: 65 percent of respondents agreed that "this bill represents amnesty for illegal immigrants."

The poll, commissioned by United Press International and carried out June 15-18, found only 38 percent supported the bill currently being considered by the Senate, while 56 percent opposed it.

But in another sign that the bill's opponents are winning the arguments, though most said they opposed the bill there was a majority for one of its key reforms.

Sixty-one percent backed a temporary guest worker program, where workers would return to their home countries after a fixed period of time.

But only a minority, 44 percent to 48 percent, favored some form of legalization as the best way to deal with the estimated 12 million people living in the United States illegally.

Americans rated immigration the second most important issue facing the country after the war in Iraq, and just ahead of healthcare, according to the poll.

They believe the current U.S. immigration system is broken.

Nearly three-quarters, 73 percent, agreed it was in need of major reform, while 24 percent said it required only minor or no reform.

But just 3 percent of Americans approved of Congress's handling of the immigration issue and only 9 percent approved of the president's.

In numbers that will be a blow to lawmakers backing the compromise deal that returns to the Senate floor this week, nearly two-thirds, 64 percent, wanted their representatives in Congress to support a more restrictive immigration regime, whereas only 26 percent wished they backed more open rules.

Democrats narrowly favored less restrictive immigration rules, by 48 percent to 36 percent, compared with Republican respondents, who backed tighter rules 88 percent to 7 percent. Independents tilted slightly more than the general population toward tougher rules, 67 percent to 23 percent.

An even larger majority of respondents, 69 percent, believed that state and local authorities should be required to assist in enforcing U.S. immigration laws, something many currently resist doing, saying they have insufficient resources or that it will negatively impact their relationships with local immigrant communities.

Even Democrats backed such a requirement, 52 percent to 39 percent, and Independents did 72 percent to 25 percent.

Although a majority, 61 percent, backed a guest worker program, only 43 percent believed it would help curb illegal immigration and fully 69 percent said they did not believe most guest workers would leave once their temporary permits expired.

Asked which element of the immigration issue was most important, the largest number, 42 percent, chose enforcing existing laws. Increasing border security was the second most popular option, backed by 29 percent, with a guest worker program and citizenship reform the least favored option at 23 percent.

Respondents were offered a series of four options for dealing with those living in the country illegally. More than a third, 37 percent, favored the drastic -- and, officials say, entirely impractical -- option of mass deportation. Eleven percent favored deporting only those who had committed a crime; 27 percent backed allowing those with jobs to stay if they passed a background check; and 17 percent chose allowing those who learned English to stay if they paid a fine.

The poll suggests that the issue is much more important for Republicans and Independents than for Democrats. Democrats did not rate the issue as the second most important facing the country; the sample as a whole did. Among Democrats, immigration was rated fifth on a list of 16 issues, behind Iraq, healthcare, jobs and the environment; and 1 percent ahead of foreign policy.

For Republicans, immigration was the second issue, just four points behind terrorism and security, with the war in Iraq a distant third.

Among key independent voters, immigration tied with Iraq as the most important issue, with healthcare the only other issue registering significantly.

The UPI-Zogby poll, conducted over the Internet June 15-18, surveyed 8,300 U.S. adults. The results were weighted to make the sample nationally representative, and the results have a margin of error of plus or minus 1.1 percentage points.

http://www.upi.com/Zogby/UPI_Polls/2007 ... laim/2674/

dup http://www.alipac.us/modules.php?name=F ... ic&t=70603