CAP: The Public’s View of Immigration - Americans Are Talking but Why Aren't Candidates Listening? [View all]

[pampango]

Salome Gomez, left, carries his 2-year-old daughter, Adriana Gomez, in light rain
during an immigrant rights march in downtown Dallas, Texas. The vast majority of
Americans support smart solutions to immigration reform and reject mass deportation.

Immigration became an increasingly polarized issue over the last few years. Now, loud voices on all sides shout each other down and crowd out any discussion of real solutions. Smears of “amnesty” have tarred numerous politicians, and the idea of dealing sensibly with the 11 million unauthorized immigrants in the United States appears to be anathema for many on the right. The recent Republican presidential debates only confirm how much immigration is a hot-button issue.

But how do ordinary Americans feel about immigration? Five recent polls, run by organizations from across the political spectrum—from Fox News to Latino Decisions—unequivocally illustrate that the vast majority of Americans support smart solutions to immigration reform and reject mass deportation. They support a pathway to citizenship for people who are part of our communities, learn English, pay back taxes, and so forth, and they reject tearing these families apart.

Put simply, these polls illustrate that the ideological extremism of the hard right is well outside the mainstream pragmatism of the American people.

***snip*** (Information from a variety of polls taken on the public's view of immigration.)

First, and most obviously, the vast majority of Americans, regardless of where they fall in the political spectrum, support no-nonsense solutions to immigration reform and a pathway to legal status for the 11 million unauthorized immigrants living in the country. ... This pragmatism stands in stark contrast to the increasingly hardline stance of many on the right such as Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN), who told Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly that undocumented immigrants could be “dragged onto busses” in front of their children and deported.

http://www.americanprogress.org/issues/2011/12/immigration_polling.html