68% Oppose Boycotts of Arizona Over New Immigration Law

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Boston and Los Angeles were among the first to announce boycotts of Arizona, but 68% of Americans say it’s a bad idea for other cities or states to boycott Arizona over its new immigration law.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that only 14% of Adults think it’s a good idea for cities or states to join that boycott. Ten percent (10%) don’t care one way or the other, and nine percent (9%) more are undecided.

Forty percent (40%), in fact, say they would avoid doing business with any city or state that boycotts Arizona. Forty-three percent (43%) disagree and would continue to do business with boycotting cities or states. Seventeen percent (17%) aren’t sure.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of voters nationwide favor passage of a law like Arizona’s in their own state. When asked specifically about the chief provision of the Arizona law, support is even higher. Sixty-nine percent (69%) of voters believe a police officer should be required to check the immigration status of anyone stopped for a traffic violation or violation of some other law if he suspects the person might be an illegal immigrant.

Fifty-five percent (55%) of Americans say when it comes to addressing the immigration issue, their personal views are closer to those of political leaders in Arizona rather than those of political leaders in Washington. Just 26% say their views are closest to Washington political leaders. Nineteen percent (19%) are not sure.

(Want a free daily e-mail update? If it's in the news, it's in our polls). Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

The survey of 1,000 Adults was conducted on May 17-18, 2010 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Seventy-five percent (75%) of Adults say they have been following news reports about the new immigration law in Arizona at least somewhat closely. Most recognize, too, that boycotts of Arizona have been limited to date.

Men feel much more strongly than women that further boycotts are a bad idea. Fifty percent (50%) of men say they would avoid doing business with any city or state that boycotts Arizona, but the plurality (47%) of women disagree.

Nearly two-thirds (65%) of men say their own views on immigration are closest to those of political leaders in Arizona. Women are more closely divided on the question.

Republicans and adults not affiliated with either major party by sizable majorities think it’s a bad idea for other cities or states to boycott Arizona. Just 49% of Democrats agree.

Republicans and unaffiliateds are more than twice as likely as Democrats to avoid doing business with any city or state that boycotts Arizona.

Seventy percent (70%) of Republicans and 64% of unaffiliated adults think their views on immigration are closet to Arizona’s political leaders. Among Democrats, 43% feel closest to political leaders in Washington, 34% to political leaders in Arizona.

Arizona voters now support the state’s new immigration law more than ever and are still more inclined to think the law will be good for the state’s economy rather than bad. A lot of voters in the state are thinking it’s payback time, too, to those cities or states that boycott Arizona.

President Obama and President Felipe Calderon of Mexico denounced the Arizona law at a joint White House press conference yesterday. But most Americans don’t believe Mexico wants to stop the illegal flow of its citizens into this country and think America’s southern neighbor should be asked to compensate U.S. taxpayers for costs incurred by illegal immigration.

Arizona officials say the new law is needed because the federal government is not enforcing U.S. immigration law and illegal immigration is causing big public safety and financial problems for the state.

As the United States wrestles with a future of historic-level deficits, 67% of voters nationwide say illegal immigrants are a significant strain on the U.S. budget.

Most voters continue to say as they have for years that gaining control of the border is more important than legalizing the status of undocumented workers.

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_ ... ration_law