Thread: Poll: Illegal immigrants get blame and sympathy in TN

Poll: Illegal immigrants get blame and sympathy in TN

6:54 AM, Feb 9, 2011


Celeste Nuñez, a 24-year-old immigrant from Mexico, said, "We're good people that really want to push ourselves forward.
I think they really should give us a chance, not just Hispanics but all kinds of people."

By Chas Sisk, The Tennessean

Tennesseans have mixed opinions about immigration, with a majority saying foreigners have become a burden to the United States while opposing a crackdown that would send illegal immigrants back to their home countries.

About 70 percent of Tennesseans believe immigrants take jobs from American citizens and use up tax dollars, according to a statewide poll by Vanderbilt University.

More than 60 percent said they favor giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship rather than arresting them and forcing them to leave. Most Tennesseans also said they support granting citizenship to all children born on U.S. soil, regardless of where their parents are from, a principle often referred to as birthright citizenship.

The results suggest that even as they hold negative views about the recent wave of immigration to the United States, many Tennesseans do not support extraordinary measures to remove people who are in the country illegally.

"It's something that we just need to accept," Will Shuff, owner of the 12South Taproom, said in an interview with The Tennessean conducted separately from the poll. "We need to look for a solution that works for everybody. If we just totally eliminated that, it's going to be a drastic change."

The poll found general agreement among Tennesseans on how to address illegal immigration, including on major policy questions such as amnesty, mass deportations and birthright citizenship.

Only about 1 percent support giving illegal immigrants citizenship without any requirements or amnesty, but only about 36 percent back deportations.

Tennesseans instead expressed support for heftier penalties on businesses that use illegal immigrants. More than 78 percent of Tennesseans told pollsters they would support fines on employers that hire illegal immigrants, and 62 percent said they would back jail time for the practice.

"I wouldn't mind a little fining," said Alvin Riedl, a barber at the Granny White Barber Shop near Lipscomb University. "Seven days wouldn't be bad either. Forty-eight hours even."

Education a factor

Tennesseans' attitudes toward immigration varied somewhat based on their level of education.

More than 80 percent of people with a high school education or less said immigrants are a burden on American society, a view shared by only 47 percent of those with college degrees.

Otherwise, skepticism toward the benefits of immigration appeared to span the political spectrum, cutting across race, age and gender.

A majority of liberals, nearly 56 percent, told pollsters that they view immigrants as a burden, a view shared by 64 percent of moderates and 80 percent of conservatives. About two-thirds of Tennesseans less than 45 years of age see immigrants as burdensome, as do 72 percent of Tennesseans older than 65 and 78 percent of Tennesseans of ages in between.

"We're good people that really want to push ourselves forward," Celeste Nuñez, a 24-year-old immigrant from Mexico, said as she waited in a Catholic Charities office on Nolensville Pike for help completing her citizenship application. "I think they really should give us a chance, not just Hispanics but all kinds of people."

Majorities of Tennesseans of all ages told pollsters that they favor creating a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants. That solution was favored by Democrats, Republicans and independents, and by 52 percent of respondents who identified themselves as members of the tea party movement.

"I've got immigrants who live right next to me, and they're good neighbors," said Margaret Timmons, a 77-year-old retired nurse technician from Antioch. "They don't bother me at all. ... I think something should be done because they got to make a living just like anybody."

Several Middle Tennesseans said the citizenship requirements appear to be too difficult, raising unnecessary hurdles for immigrants, even those who are in the country legally.

"They need to give some permits to work," said Alfonso Martinez, a 26-year-old painter from Mexico who was naturalized in December. "All people want is to have driver's licenses and get jobs."

More than two-thirds of the people who called themselves tea partiers said they oppose granting citizenship to all children born in the U.S., but more generally, birthright citizenship drew majority support from Republicans and Democrats.

But support was widespread for tougher penalties on those who employ illegal immigrants. More than 85 percent of independents supported fines, as did 78 percent of Republicans and 65 percent of Democrats. A majority of liberals, 63 percent, backed fines, as did 79 percent of moderates and 81 percent of conservatives.

Even the suggestion of jail time was greeted with support. About two-thirds of conservatives and liberals supported sending employers who hire illegal immigrants to jail, as did 55 percent of moderates.

"Overall, Tennesseans are pretty unified in their perception of immigration," said Josh Clinton, associate professor of political science at Vanderbilt and co-director of the poll. "It's not a Republican or Democratic question. Most of the time, they're on the same side of the issue."

http://www.wbir.com/news/local/story.as ... yid=156359

I can't believe this piece!

Did a search and found this:

About This Poll

The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions has created the Vanderbilt Poll with support from Peabody College and with The Tennessean as a media partner.

The statewide poll covers topics of interest to Tennesseans, from the priorities of state government to jobs and the economy and public policy issues like immigration and religious freedom.

With 710 respondents to the Vanderbilt Poll, the margin of error for the poll is +/- 3.7 %.

The poll was conducted by calling a random sample of landline telephone numbers over a period of seven days – from Jan. 17 to Jan. 23.

John Geer, professor of political science, and Josh Clinton, associate professor of political science, co-directed the poll.

http://www.tennessean.com/section/projects11

The comments section seems to strongly disagree with this article. What a surprise.

Originally Posted by ReggieMay

The comments section seems to strongly disagree with this article. What a surprise.

Yes looking at the comments gives you a very good idea of the accuracy of a poll and this poll is confusing and streches the truth big time.

Searched John Geer and found he's an expert on "Polls", including how they can be manipulated. Heck he wrote a book about it!

Public Opinion and Polling around the World
A Historical Encyclopedia

John G. Geer, EditorJohn G. Geer, Editor

Covering the intricate facets of America's most important democratic tradition, this book serves as an important resource to understand how citizens' views are translated into governmental action.

George Washington toured the countryside on horseback asking citizens their thoughts on his new government. Abraham Lincoln held weekly meetings with citizens to better understand their views. Today, public opinion is power, and no nation can afford to ignore it. Determining what the public is thinking is not always easy. Polls are powerful weapons, but they can be misused.

Public Opinion and Polling around the World presents a thorough review of public opinion from its roots in colonial America to its role in today's emerging democracies. More than 100 entries prepared by top scholars examine the 200-year history of public opinion, measurement methodologies with an emphasis on telephone interviews and Internet polls, and key figures like George Gallup and Elmo Roper, who created their own polling systems.

An analysis of theories compares schools of thought from the fields of psychology, sociology, and economics and explores how people form opinions. A fascinating snapshot of the public's current views on economic issues, foreign policy, gender, gay rights, and other hot-button topics observes patterns across genders, race, ethnic origins, class, and religion in regions all over the world. Students, academicians, and political observers will discover answers to such questions as, "does public opinion shape the behavior of government?"

Features
• 110 A–Z entries on how public opinion works, how it is measured, and public thinking on key issues
• More than 115 contributions from distinguished scholars of political science and sociology at top universities including Princeton, Harvard, and Stanford
• An appendix including original survey questionnaires
• 175 graphs show changes in public opinion and support key points in the entries
• Detailed, up-to-date, scholarly bibliography of recommended reading and websites for further research on public opinion and polling

http://www.abc-clio.com/product.aspx?id=61090

Utter nonsense article that doesn't add up. Most think that foreigners (not just illegals) are a burden on the US but then also a super majority believe in amnesty and not deporting?

As the article doesn't differ at all between democrats, republicans, liberals, or conservatives among other things without a breakdown on specifics its hard to believe. Polls are very touchy and just not random phone calls.

For instance look at what we know. As far as political siding goes welfare families tend to be democrat and liberal in nature. Welfare families usually have adults at home during normal work days rather then working. Republicans tend to not be so much of welfare families by statistics so during the day most adults from a home would be out working or doing normal family errands such as soccer moms IF they don't work.

So if you do a poll at 2pm in the afternoon on Tuesday you'll get far more welfare liberals then while the other side is out working. Now if you don't say your going to check 500 cons and 500 liberals or keep your breakdown by race, age, political agenda, and so forth statistics can be screwed by simple time of day its polled or even day of the week/month.