Mark Dolliver, Adweek (New York), August 13, 2009
Polling in the past decade has shown Americans subject to mood swings on the topic of immigration, and a new Gallup survey finds the current mood swinging toward the restrictive side. Fifty percent of respondents said the level of immigration should be decreased—up from 39 percent saying the same a year ago. Thirty-two percent said immigration should stay at its present level, and 14 percent said it should be increased.
A majority of respondents to the survey (conducted last month) said they believe that immigration is, on the whole, “a good thing” for the U.S. today. But that number has also dipped since last year, from 64 percent then to 58 percent now. And there has been a corresponding rise in the number saying immigration is on the whole “a bad thing” for the country, from 30 percent then to 36 percent now.
{snip}
Though there was a partisan gap in responses to the poll, opinion has been moving in the same direction for Republicans and Democrats alike. Sixty-one percent of the Republicans said the level of immigration should be decreased, up from 46 percent a year ago. Forty-four percent of Democrats subscribed to the pro-decrease position, up from 39 percent last year.
Original article
(Posted on August 18, 2009)
Comments
There is no way the government can hope to have “national” health care when every sick person, every person with AIDS, every person with renal failure will hop a plane to the US for treatment. Immigration will overload our hospitals in no time and the Democrats will face disaster for bringing this calamity to pass.
Hop a train, take a car, hail a cab and there you are..on America’s welfare roles! Our new national anthem.
I just don’t understand how the Democratic rank and file, can possibly see any advantage to illegal immigration. I suspect that like the Republicans, this is an issue only with the party elites. Most Americans want the border with corrupt Mexico sealed, and illegal immigration stopped, along with deportation through attrition. It would be a big step in getting back some semblence of law and order in this country and wouldn’t hurt the financial situation of California and other States either.
Many people, including me, have emphasized illegal immigrants as the main problem we should stop. However, there is no reason either for the massive amount of legal immigration which erodes our culture and Anglo-Saxon based culture. Given the millions of jobs our bankers and politicians have sent overseas, we don’t need any more immigrants. We need to boycott foreign goods and services. With over 300 million people, we have plenty of people to do what needs to be done. If blacks and “legal” Hispanics don’t want to work, let them starve.
This doesn’t say whether the immigration in question is illegal or legal. Are they synonymous now?
Public opinion sours on immigration? Are they serious? American public opinion on immigration has been the biggest media cover up in the history of media cover ups!!! Perhaps the story should read….”A few liberals think immigration may be somewhat excessive so now we thought we would finally write a story about it.”
1 — Tim wrote at 5:34 PM on August 18:
“There is no way the government can hope to have “national” health care when every sick person, every person with AIDS, every person with renal failure will hop a plane to the US for treatment. Immigration will overload our hospitals in no time and the Democrats will face disaster for bringing this calamity to pass.”
This is what I have been preaching for years - that while we absolutely need single payer, regulated insurance, it cannot work alongside a broken immigration system and open borders, sanctuary cities, etc. This is why all the other nations who do have socialized medicine are beginning to have problems. However, even former Eastern Block nations have a private sector of health care delivery since communist times (I know I worked at one for a couple years for the adventure of it). So people with money can get care if they are impatient, etc.
But the irony is that WE are already PAYING for the healthcare for everyone who can sneak in or get assylum status. Surely, none on this blog has missed how many hospitals have gone out of business because of how illegal and even legal immigrants use them for their primary provider? Your insurance premium is higher because the hostpitals try to pay for those losses by increasing your hospital charges. California absolutely went broke providing health care, education, and food for everyone who could bust in.
Not only can we not have national care in such a case, eventually, we won’t even have a nation because these population rushes into North America will not just bankrupt it, but ruin it completely, top to bottom. We are just beginning to see this today, but it will be much worse tomorrow, unless our government wakes up and gets tough. If they don’t, the time will come when anarchy will rule.
“A majority of respondents to the survey (conducted last month) said they believe that immigration is, on the whole, “a good thing” for the U.S. today.:
Not enough doctors; not enough water; not enough food, if the water supply gets much lower or we have a natural calamity; not enough of a lot of things, and the “not enoughs” are increasing every year, so why on earth would anybody at all in his right mind want any kind of immigration….legal or illegal?
The best way to get a complete halt in immigration is to close off the southern border, forbidding immigrants from entering from the south, and stepping up immigration from Eastern Europe. Voila! Mision accomplished.
All the white self-haters and the non-whites, who comprise the total advocating immigration would immediately be in favor of halting all immigration, effectively giving us an almost zero immigration rate.
“Polling in the past decade has shown Americans subject to mood swings on the topic of immigration”
Mood swings? This is too funny. Notice how the media trivilizes this. No, Americans aren’t subject to “mood swings” on this. As immigration increases, more and more Americans see the negative effects and as such, Americans turn more and more against it.
Don’t believe for one minute that negative opinion polls will lower immigration. Don’t sit there with your fingers crossed hoping politicians will pay attention. Opinion polls have shown majority opposition to immigration for decades with no effect. The opposition to immigration has to be organized and project power. Give your support to organizations that are active in pushing for restriction. Support organizations like AmRen that are helping to unify whites.
12 million? or is it 20 million or 30 mil. What ever the real number of illegals is would be that many jobs for real Americans. Round em up ship em out! It’ll help health, education, economy, crime rate. and don’t forget our American culture. It would also give FEMA something to do besides targeting average Americans.
I was watching c-spans’ Washington Journal. They had a woman from some organization advocating amnesty and increasing the number of immigrants.
She said that even though we’re in a recession, we need more immigrants to come and be here when the economy turns around.
These people are desperate to come up with any and every justification for their insanity.
I hope that as many turn out to protest illegal immigration as have gathered to voice their opinion on Obamacare. We need to let the administration know that we won’t tolerate giving our most precious birthright-citizenship-to those who’ve dishonored our laws. Three things the government could do would rid our country of illegals - 1. Immediately stop birthright citizenship to anchor babies 2. Make E-verify mandatory for all jobs in the US. 3. Stop all benefits including schooling and medical benefits. I think we’d see most self-deport. Those left would have 30 days to leave or they’d have to help build the fence, then stay on the southern side of it.
I remember the numbers against being a lot higher - as in a lot more Americans wanted immigration to be reduced and it had been this way for some time.
The percentage of people who think immigration should be decreased has NEVER been as low as 39%. And I seriously doubt that it’s ever been as low as 50%, either. Sometimes it’s just hard to tell the difference between polls and propaganda.
I think that deep down, every clear-headed white person (and many others, for that matter) know that immigration is a complete disaster.
But, of course, Marxist politicians naturally know what’s best for all of us! As another poster pointed out, don’t cross your fingers here. Immigrants are a guaranteed voting bloc. Nothing more, nothing less.
This isn’t good enough. Still at this late hour the majority of people think immigration is a good thing for America?
In a couple of years, the majority of children born in America will be non-white.
In 30 years, the majority of America will be non-white — most of the whites remaining will be too old to fight for their country.
And we’re still having to argue over whether immigration is good or bad for America?
Will the worse is better theory really save us in time? Can we just sit on our hands and wait for the worse is better theory to wise up all of our fellow Americans? Never underestimate the power of human stupidity. Odds are, they’ll never wise up — even South Africa voted to hand power over to the black majority — why would we learn when they never did?
We need a new party.
An American National Party.
We need to replace the democrats and the republicans. They are all traitors.
By my own empirical evidence, most Americans really have no idea what the actual “immigration” levels are, legitimate, illegal, etc. Thus, when many speak on the subject have they have no real frame of reference in terms of numbers and demographics, which if they did know, would probably horrify and astonish them.
19 — HH wrote at 3:04 AM on August 19:
“By my own empirical evidence, most Americans really have no idea what the actual “immigration” levels are, legitimate, illegal, etc. Thus, when many speak on the subject have they have no real frame of reference in terms of numbers and demographics, which if they did know, would probably horrify and astonish them.”
> All they need do is open their eyes and look around them. It is on tv, in every business they go to, everywhere on the streets, etc. It is loud, proud, and bold. How blind can some people pretend to be?
As someone who is on the left on some issues, and on the right on others, I talk and debate with all sorts, and this article hits on something which I have found to be very true:
The average middle class American (and this crosses race to some degree too) does not like how the country has been transformed by illegal immigration from Mexico over the past 20 or 30 years. They don’t like what has happened, and they don’t want any more of it.
When I’ve dug into it, what I’ve discovered is that the issue of immigration is one of those political issues that brings out people’s cynical side. People understand on some level that they aren’t being listened to by their elected political class. Was there ever a vote on how many Mexicans to let into the country? Were we ever given a choice? And when popular, immigration-related legislation has passed, like Prop 187 in CA, the will of the voters was overturned, further confirming people’s sense of powerlessness and cynicism.
The immigration issue really does transcend the partisan divide. If you’re a conservative, go to Huffington Post or Daily Kos and you will routinely see a disconnect between the Dem leadership and the average liberal. It’s very common to hear liberals talk about “going after the employers who hire illegals” - and the fact is, if there WAS rigorous enforcement of employment laws, we’d see millions of Mexicans compelled to go home. Imagine that - many average Dem voters agree with a policy that would send millions of illegals back to Mexico. Talk to Democrats that you know - I think you’ll find the same sort of thing.
My point is that there’s an opportunity to form a populist bipartisan coalition when immigration reform hits the headlines next year. I hope someone can find a way to unite Americans of both parties on this issue. It might be our last chance for those of us of European descent to stave off becoming a minority in the country our people built.
Public opinion SOURS…? Was it ever SWEET? I don’t know anyone who thinks illegal immigration is a good idea. If you live in CA as I do, you know that it’s the Mexican illegals who have near-singlehandedly destroyed our public educational system, our healthcare system, our welfare system, and, because we’ve had to pay out so much money for the illegals via all of the above, we have nothing left over to rebuild and repair our infrastructure. We used to have the finest roads in the U.S. - now, if you come here on a driving vacation, bring extra tires. My state is now a bleeding shell of what it once was, and it’s all thanks to the illegal immigrants. SOURED is right!!!
These polls are meaningless. If you poll your average citizen in Los Angeles or El Paso you’ll come up with numbers favoring immigration. I live in real America and no one has ever polled me ever! Just like when I was listening on the radio this afternoon they had a poll where the majority of people said they believed the government could handle a pandemic crisis. It’s just out there to influence people’s opinions.
Two guys having sex can’t pull a baby out of their a**. Liberals are dying off left and right and being replaced by minorities. States like Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire will have to bring in more immigrants to stave off the growing conservative population in these states. That’s what this is really all about. That’s what it’s always been about. The only problem is it’s turning their liberal dreamlands into unpleasant places to live.
Immigration is a good thing? Good for whom?
I have come to the conclusion that white people don’t care about illegal immigration. I’ll tell you why. Last year Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois was elected in a landslide victory. This guy is one of the major panderers to illegal immigrants and their families. He sponsors the Dream Act. It helps children of illegal aliens get a pathway to citizenship. How else could you explain him getting reelected?
“white people don’t care about illegal immigration”. One of the big lessons I got from studying sociology is how difficult it is to separate the individual from the social. The cues white people get from society mostly tell us not to worry about illegals. We’re also left with the impression that to feel strongly against illegal immigration is close to being racist. Give white people stronger leadership against illegals, more examples of famous people who are opposed, more things to do to help stop it, and you’d find more whites caring about the issue.
I’m also surprised that leaders and establishment institutions are so indifferent to the immigration issue. Many social changes don’t come from ordinary people but come from establishment interests. Why does the Roman Catholic church not care about the Islamic invasion of Europe? The Republican Party is watching population changes that advantage the Democrats. School teachers are watching immigration change the curricula of what students should be taught. Doesn’t the teaching establishment have any confidence in itself that it knows best what should be taught? The environmentalists like the Sierra Club don’t seem to care about population growth and city sprawl. If these leading institutions went against illegals then ordinary folks would follow.
I still say LEGAL immigration is a bigger problem than illegal. For example, Asians come in, displace white Americans in the professional schools, then bring their parents here and put them on SSI. Why should we allow immigration from Africa, Asia, the Middle East, or the Indian sub-continent? We never colonized these places. They find America a nice place to live, but disdain our culture.
We need to halt ALL immigration, legal or otherwise for the next thirty years. Then we need to mandate that all companies who want to do business in the United States use e-verify. We also need to make sure all the social services do the same.
If we shut off the welfare and the jobs, no fence will be necessary; the illegals will self-deport.
Perhaps people are waking up. I have long been at the forefront of this issue.
