This story regarding a Reuters/Ipsos poll is lengthy, and worth checking out, especially insofar as there is such a political opportunity here. On the all-important issue of immigration, there is a new ‘silent majority’ growing rapidly, one that crosses party lines, and there are exactly zero Republicans (at the national, POTUS-candidate level) tapping into it.
In Western Europe, there has been a sudden emergence and surge of political parties focusing on immigration restrictionism and the correlative issue of ‘national identity’. Can such a thing ever happen here? Will such a thing ever happen here? For example, will a still prevailing notion that American ‘identity’ is solely a creed forever hinder any Western European-styled nativist movement in the U.S.?
And where, o’where, is our modern day Pat Buchanan?
A few highlights from the poll:
(Reuters) – As President Barack Obama considers sidestepping Congress to loosen U.S. immigration policy, a Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Americans are deeply worried that illegal immigration is threatening the nation’s culture and economy.
Seventy percent of Americans – including 86 percent of Republicans – believe undocumented immigrants threaten traditional U.S. beliefs and customs, according to the poll…
The findings suggest immigration could join Obamacare – the healthcare insurance overhaul – and the economy as hot button issues that encourage more Republicans to vote in November’s congressional election.
With Congress failing to agree on broad immigration reforms, Obama could act alone in the next few weeks to give work permits to up to 5 million undocumented immigrants and delay some deportations, according to media reports.
Hispanic and liberal voters would welcome that, but the online survey suggests much of the rest of the nation may not.
Despite arguments from the White House and groups like the U.S. Chamber of Commerce that legal immigration benefits business, 63 percent of people in the online survey also said immigrants place a burden on the economy…
While the economy and Obamacare remain the key concerns of voters, immigration has become more of an issue in recent months because of intense media coverage of a surge of illegal migrants, including tens of thousands of children, flooding into the United States from Central America.
Only 17 percent thought more legal immigrants should be allowed to come to the United States. Thirty-eight percent said the number should stay the same…
A separate Reuters/Ipsos online poll shows that voters see immigration as the third most important problem facing the nation. Respondents in a Gallup poll in July cited immigration as the No.1 problem, ahead of the economy.
