Posted on 05/05/2006 12:31:02 PM PDT by Johnson99
Voters Reject Guest-Worker Plan
A new Zogby poll of likely voters finds that Americans prefer, by two to one, the House of Representatives’ enforcement-only bill to the Senate’s plan to grant guest-worker status. Sixty-four percent of Americans support the House bill, with only 30 percent supporting the Senate plan. Support for the enforcement-only approach by itself also proves to be widespread, with 81 percent of Republicans, 72 percent of Independents, 57 percent of Democrats, and 53 percent of Hispanics supporting the enforcement-only House bill.
Regarding legal immigration, this poll demonstrates that Americans want less - not more - immigration, with only two percent responding that current immigration levels are too low. The Senate plan, which would increase legal immigration from one to two million a year, appears blatantly at odds with the wishes of voters. Americans, through and through, do not think we need more people, not even for low-paying jobs. Seventy-four percent of likely voters think that there are enough Americans to fill low-wage jobs, if employers would pay and treat employees better.
What do these numbers mean? Most Democrats, President Bush, and many Republicans in the Senate are out of touch. This news could be particularly damaging for Democrats, given that a majority of their constituents generally supports an enforcement-only approach. It could also be damaging for certain Republicans (like Senators McCain, Brownback, DeWine, or Graham) who currently attempt to auction off citizenship for (unlikely) future votes. Senate Republicans ignoring their base on immigration will likely benefit Democrats this November. Many Republicans are so angry over the guest-worker proposal that they may vote third-party or not vote at all.
This poll is the first poll to ask the question - using neutral language - whether likely voters prefer the House bill (enforcement-only) or Senate (guest-worker) plan. This outcome interestingly depicts that despite all the pro-amnesty rhetoric in the liberal media, 64 percent of Americans still favor an enforcement-only approach. If we were to have a more balanced media, with more opponents of immigration allowed to speak, this number would possibly jump from 64 to 80 percent.
Although previous polls showed that more Americans may support a guest-worker plan, the wording of such polls proved at best questionable, at worst blatantly biased. Critics, however, have always been skeptical of previous polls, especially when almost every person you know - Democrat or Republican - says he wants the same thing: (1) no guest-worker plan, (2) a border secured by guards and a physical fence, and (3) a massive reduction in legal and illegal immigration.
----------------- Matthew A. Roberts is a freelance columnist whose recent articles are mentioned or appear at Washington Times, FrontPageMag.org, National Federation of Republican Assemblies, National Ledger, Reality Check, MichNews, The Post Chronicle, Daley Times-Post, American Daily, Capital Hill Coffee House, et al. He also maintains a weblog at www.conservatoroccidentalis.com
The Texas Rangers are playing the Yanks tonight and they are wearing a Cinco De Myao uniform. It says Los Rangers, LOL LOL. I can't wait to see a Viva Italia Uniform.
You're too friggin' stupid to know that you dropped your drawers over the Dubai ports deal but let the UAE get in on manufacturing vital military parts for the US army through the back door.
I happen to think we ought to reward our UAE partner in the war on terror, but you're too busy playing the one-upmanship game to notice how you were manipulated by Schumer, King, and the MSM in the ports deal.
Go give your hero Hannity a big ole wet kiss.
Yeah, the House will go the Democrats, and Bush and the GOP Senate will have willing partners in a plan to strengthen the borders and provide a path to citizenship to those immigrants in the country.
Suckered again!!! You boys don't think past the day-after-tomorrow, do you?
Still whistling past the graveyard of illegal immigration?
It isn't popular, and it's proponents are less popular every day.
The only thing you bots have left is to use the threat of democrats taking over.
If the democrats take power, will they spend like drunken sailors. Propably. So have the GOP.
Will they support Amnesty for Illegals. Propably. So has Bush and the GOP run Senate.
Will the democrats build a border fence. Propably not.
Neither will the GOP.
Will they open investigations into the Bush administration?
Propably. The GOP has had many opportunities to put the Klintonsitas in jail like Sandy Butglar and they have left the Klintonistas alone, so they will get a lesson in how to play hard ball. Maybe that lesson will toughen them up a bit.
"You're too friggin' stupid to know that you dropped your drawers over the Dubai ports deal but let the UAE get in on manufacturing vital military parts for the US army through the back door."
Don't blame me for UAE deal. I'm not part of the Bush administration that decides of these deal. But thanks for bringing up another stupid Bush policy.
Enjoy your short stay.
I have not trashed Bush. I have trashed his policies.
This site is not a BushBot Site Only. You choose to try to run off others who don't agree with you.
And there are lots of freepers here who are conservatives
who don't agree with you. Just look at the Freeper Polls on Immigration. Do you actually think that every freeper here has to agree with Bush's policies or they get thrown overboard. Many of us are giving you and those that think like you a warning sign. Get back to Ronald Reagan conservative values or pay a price.
You mean the same Ronald Reagan who granted amnesty to three million illegals?
Yeah, the same Great One, Ronald Wilson Reagan, THE GIANT!
So amnesty is OK with you, then? After all, the GIANT granted amnesty.
If you are asking me if I disagree with what Reagan did, I do. But he was a giant among migets. He united his party, not divided it.
Did granting amnesty to three million illegals unite the party?
Did cutting-and-running after 240 Marines were murdered in Lebanon unite the party?
Did raising taxes, twice, unite the party?
Are these things the GOP ought to be doing, today, to unite the party, since Reagan did them?
"Did granting amnesty to three million illegals unite the party?"
Quite frankly, I cannot even remember him granting Amnesty
It certainly did not divide the party
Did cutting-and-running after 240 Marines were murdered in Lebanon unite the party?
It did not divide the party.
Did raising taxes, twice, unite the party?
Are these things the GOP ought to be doing, today, to unite the party, since Reagan did them.
REAGAN and the GOP did not control all three branches
of Gov, as I am sure you are aware. He had a democratic congress(Tip O'Neil) and a Democratic Senate. Yet they feared him, with good reason.
Today we control all three branches of Gov and govern like the minority.
You are racing to judge Bush's legacy when he has over 54 months left in his administration.
You're also willing to turn Congress over to the Democrats to guarantee nothing will get done and he could likely get impeached.
You're on my list.
This should be a wake up call to the weak kneed GOP.
Yes, their job is cut out for them. They will work like gangbusters to bludgeon us into obedience, to intimidate and coerce us into obeying the Party Line.
You just wait and see if that ain't how it's gonna play out.
When The Party is at odds with the electorate, clearly, something is gonna have to give. And it ain't gonna be The Party!
Look at any example from the past, for example, the infamous "Crime Bill", which was opposed tooth and nail by the electorate. Lord Dole said that the calls were coming in hot and heavy, thousands a day, the vast majority of which were strongly opposed to the bill.
He, of course, heard their voice, and ignored it. He voted for the bill.
(And that was when I realized the stupidity of "calling our elected representatives to urge them to vote blah blah blah." I have better things to do with my time than waste in on arrogant rulers who feel it beneath their dignity to listen to "We the people.")
Because "The Dubai Port Deal" was such an easy punt. They could look like they were "bowing to the will of the voters", but in reality, do nothing at all about the issue. At the end of the dust-up, "the people" walked away thinking they "won", and "the deal" kept on keepin' on, with nothing changed.
It's sort of impossible to play that sort of BS with something like this issue, where the results are so transparent.
And they're not too fussy who they elect as long as he/she isn't too conservative...
They don't want Tancredo, or Pence, etc...But mention liberals like Allen, Rice, Romney, or even Rudy G...They fall all over themselves stumbling to support those people...
"They are Party-Bots" -- bingo.
And I have a gnawing suspicion that some of them are Party shills, as in, "I post because it's my job. Gotta make a living, after all."
Known facts:
1. Such things ("paid to post") do exist. There is an industry based on providing services such as slipping operatives into discussion fora, for the purpose of "steering consensus", derailing inconvenient discussions, and so forth. Target client base consists largely of major corporations and political organizations.
2. This particular forum is about the highest-profile, most heavily-read forum of its type in the land.
So, as they saying goes, do the math. If they're going to target any forum, then common sense dicates that this forum would be a prime target.
Great idea! How would/could Americans get building of a physical linear border barrier on a national ballot?
Mornin' Jim,
Have we ever had a poll asking if we believe Americans ought to have a chance to decide on the construction of a border fence via national vote? Reckon we need one? Just a question....
Ah, a colloquial threat. How droll.
Regarding Reagan, yes, he did institute an amnesty -- one that was a fraction of the scope of the one currently being shoved down our throats.
Funny thing, though -- afterward, he regretted having done it.
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