Thread: Poll: Californians support citizenship for long-term illegal

Poll: Californians support citizenship for long-term illegal immigrants

By: WILLIAM FINN BENNETT - Staff Writer

NORTH COUNTY ---- A poll released this week shows most Californians view illegal immigration as a serious probem but still believe that those who have been in the country for "many years" should be legalized.

More than 4 out of 5 people who responded to the survey said that programs should be set up so that long-time illegal immigrants can become citizens, if they "have a job, learned English and paid back taxes."

Mark DiCamillo, one of the architects of the survey, said what jumped out at him from the survey results is that there is a consensus among Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals.


"It crosses party lines. This is not a divisive issue," he said.

The poll results also showed growing support for a guest worker program, with 67 percent in favor compared with 60 percent a year ago.

However, not everyone agrees with the survey, and there are those who challenge the methodology.

Officials with the well known, San Franciso-based Field Poll said they questioned 570 registered voters statewide in late March. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Those questioned who favor legalization for long-time illegal immigrants include many in two groups that typically take a hard stance on immigration ---- 76 percent of Republicans and 70 percent of those who define themselves as strong conservatives.

But a significant majority of Republicans and strong conservatives also told pollsters they want to see an increased number of Border Patrol agents on the border, a crackdown on those who employ illegal immigrants and the rounding up and deportation of those who enter the country illegally.

For example, 72 percent of Republican voters and 78 percent of strong conservatives who were polled said they support the idea of having immigration agents arrest and deport illegal immigrants. Contrast those numbers with the 38 percent of Democrats and 18 percent of people who identified themselves as strong liberals who favored sweeps for illegal immigrants.

Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, a group that advocates for stricter enforcement of immigration laws, said Tuesday that he believes the survey was misleading. Because people were asked how they felt about the different proposals individually rather than asking them to choose between options, he believes the results are suspect.

"If you don't ask people, 'Which one of these things would you want?' ---- then it's just a series of options and you can vote for all of them," he said.

The president of the National Border Patrol Council said he wasn't surprised that many conservatives support the idea of legalization.

"In the minds of many people, 'many years' translates to a decade or more,'" said T.J. Bonner, who heads the union that represents about 11,000 rank-and-file Border Patrol agents. "And there is a fair amount of empathy toward long-term illegal aliens who have established roots in the United States."

David Shirk, director for University of San Diego's Trans-Border Institute also said Tuesday that he is not surprised, but for different reasons.

"There has been a recognition on the part of most American citizens that there is a need to address the needs of 10 to 12 million illegal immigrants out there," he said.

One trend highlighted in the survey was the growing number of people opposed to the idea of building a wall along the U.S. Mexican border.

Last year, a Field Poll showed that 48 percent were opposed to the idea. But in the March survey, 59 percent said they were against a wall. Last year, a Republican controlled Congress approved a bill to build a 700-mile-long fence along the U.S. Mexican border. The money to build the wall has not been appropriated.

See the poll report at www.field.com/fieldpollonline/subscribers/Rls2229.pdf.

-- Contact staff writer William Finn Bennett at (760) 740-5426, or wbennett@nctimes.com, or wbennett@nctimes.com.



http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2007/04 ... _10_07.txt

Hell! I'm from Texas and when we start following California's lead, I'm leaving the country. If they want to go over Niagra Falls in a bucket, more power to them. But I ain't jumping in the bucket with them.

That poll is about as important to this issue as a pile of dog pooh.

I bet I can randomly call 570 Californians and get a completely different answer.

Dixie

Officials with the well known, San Franciso-based Field Poll said they questioned 570 registered voters statewide in late March. The poll has a sampling error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.

Anything over 3 percent is insane, and if they do not define the demographics entirely, the length of time it took etc.. then this data is junk.

Dixie said:

I bet I can randomly call 570 Californians and get a completely different answer.

Yep, I'll second that!

Was this poll taken only in San Francisco I wonder?

Wasn't taken in southern CA, that's for sure.

I've been reading this garbage all day and don't buy it for one sec.

More than 4 out of 5 people who responded to the survey said that programs should be set up so that long-time illegal immigrants can become citizens, if they "have a job, learned English and paid back taxes."

If you are a long time lawbreaker you should be allowed to get citizenship? As far as them learning English, you read about it all the time, "Jose, who has been in the U.S. illegally for 22 years, said through an interpreter...".

And if this a Field Poll, they are always skewed towards a liberal slant, this is well known. They have a habit of asking the questions in a way that leans towards the end result they are looking to obtain. Like asking questions like:

If someone were here for a long time and has never broken the law, knows English, works and pays taxes would you support arresting them and ripping them from their families in the dead of night with Gestapo stlye raids and sending them into a life of poverty and despair back in their home countries, or would you favor giving them citizenship?

They must have taken the poll in Hispanic or illegal alien dominated cities and towns.. this smells like a 'cleverly manipulated to my advantage' poll

Yeah they took this poll in Santa Ana

I saw that bogus poll yesterday. It really makes me mad, because it's results are printed all over the U.S. for everyone to read. It's bs.
That poll is a telephone survey and is taken in an area of CA that has a large Hispanic population. Also, you would be surprised that alot of people are signed up on a "Do Not Call" list so they wouldn't be disturbed by such annoying calls. And then you get alot of people that would simply hang up on the caller. So, how many people actually took the time to answer the caller's questions. I bet, not many. And if most of the people participating on the poll were Hispanic, that would make the results one-sided.

Remember, the poll was conducted in English and Spanish. Unfortunately there is no mention of a percentage assigned to those who needed the Spanish translation.

What do you expect when good percentage of who you are polling came here that way. I mean if you polled the state pen and asked how many want to be freed what do you think the results would be? Lets set up a poll we will call people in San Diego and see how many people think illegal’s should stay. Would you call that a fair sampling?