America Still Slumbering?
By • 4/9/08The Center for Immigration Studies, a respected think tank, recently published a survey that revealed the public’s startling ignorance of the presidential candidates’ policies on illegal aliens. A majority of McCain’s and Clinton’s supporters don’t realize their candidate is in favor of eventual amnesty.
Only 34 percent of McCain voters, 42 percent of Clinton voters, and 52 percent of Obama voters correctly identified their candidate as favoring eventual citizenship for illegal immigrants who meet certain requirements.
Of McCain voters, 35 percent mistakenly thought he favored enforcement that would cause illegals to return home, another 10 percent thought he wanted mass deportations, and 21 percent didn’t know his position.
Voters often held different positions from the candidate they supported. Only 31 percent of McCain voters had the same immigration position as he does. For Clinton voters, 45 percent shared her position; 61 percent of Obama voters shared his position.
The good news here is that the McCain victory clearly does not mean that the public is becoming more favorable towards amnesty. Moreover, if he ever rudely awakens the public to his real views, his supporters will turn on him, just as they turned on Bush.
Whoever wins the presidency will face significant opposition to giving eventual citizenship to illegal immigrants. Just 25 percent of Republican and 50 percent of Democratic primary/caucus voters said they would support such an effort.
Pro-enforcement voters have a greater intensity of views than supporters of legalization. Among Republicans, almost nine out ten who favored causing illegals to return home said they strongly supported that view; on the other hand, fewer than half of Republicans who backed legalization strongly supported that view.
The bad news is that the facts on the immigration issue are not reaching the public. Last summer, Sam Raymond and I wrote an article called “America Awakes” on the rising awareness of the negative effects of immigration among Americans. But if 45 percent of voters think that McCain wants to force illegals to leave and 21 don’t know his position, then it appears that the article was exaggerated. We radical bloggers forget that we live in a different world from the majority of Americans, who still perceive the world through the smog of network news.
In his VDARE article on the survey, Donald A. Collins proposes that we ought to vote for the least principled candidate, as he or she will be most likely to bend to public pressure.
Perhaps American voters should assess the candidates from the most cynical perspective. Let’s pick the one most likely to bend to political winds for patriotic immigration reform.
I’d pick Hillary first, with Obama not far behind. But certainly not McCain, whose “Straight Talk Express” on immigration reform seems far less likely to waver, despite the stronger positions of his Republican colleagues.
Collins may have a point.
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