"Did you notice your NewsCrack article stated 47% support deportation and 49% oppose deportation"
More than 50% thought we would be better off without the illegals.
What's more, that was a general response, not a Republican response. If Republicans no longer stand for law enforcement, what good are they?
You are correct that it is a response from the general population. Like many extremists, you think you can win without the independents.
All elections are won and lost between the 40 yard lines
The fact that only approximately 6.7% of the members of Rep. Tancredo's Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus lost their seats compared with the fact that approximately 11.5% of all Republican seats were lost in Congress destroys any argument that somehow those that support tough anti-illegal immigration measures did not do well in Congress. If Republicans in Congress in general had done as well as the members of Rep. Tancredo's caucus, the chances of Republicans retaining control of Congress would have been much better.
Some of those that support rewarding millions of illeal aliens with legal status and a path to citizenship would have us believe that President's Bush's horrible poll numbers, the public's disapproval of the war in Iraq and the Mark Foley scandal were not the cause of Democrats now controlling Congress, but rather it was the fact that House Republicans passed a tough anti-illegal immigration bill.