70% in Massachusetts Favor Ban on Public Benefits For Illegal Immigrants
Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Seventy percent (70%) of Massachusetts voters favor a proposal recently rejected by the state legislature that would stop illegal immigrants from receiving public benefits.

A new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey shows that just 17% oppose the proposal to prevent illegal immigrants from gaining access to public housing, unemployment benefits, welfare or workers compensation. Thirteen percent (13%) more are not sure.

The proposal failed to pass in the Democratically-controlled State House last month by a 75 to 82 vote.

Fifty percent (50%) of voters in Massachusetts oppose a boycott of Arizona like the one just passed by Boston City Council to protest that state’s new law cracking down on illegal immigration. Thirty-four percent (34%) favor such a boycott, while another 16% are undecided.

But just 41% favor a law like Arizona’s that empowers local police to stop anyone they suspect of being an illegal immigrant. Forty-eight percent (48%) oppose such a law. Eleven percent (11%) are not sure.

Nationally, 58% support a law like the one recently adopted in Arizona.

The survey of 500 Likely Voters in Massachusetts was conducted on May 10, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 4.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Sixty-seven percent (67%) of Bay State voters are at least somewhat concerned that a law like Arizona’s might violate the civil rights of some U.S. citizens while 30% don’t share that concern. Those figures include 40% who are Very Concerned and 11% who are Not At All Concerned.

Fifty-eight percent (58%) favor a welcoming immigration policy that only excludes “national security threats, criminals and those who would come here to live off our welfare system.â€