Rasmussen poll says only 27% of likely voters want children to stay.
By Kevin Manuel
WASHINGTON D.C: Rasmussen Reports has revealed the results of a poll that shows that most voters do not want their state to house the recently arrived illegal immigrants who have created a storm of controversy on the U.S.-Mexico border. Additionally, voters want Congress to focus legislation on returning them to their country of origin.
The telephone survey covered a nationwide sampling area and found that 59% of Likely U.S. Voters believe the primary focus of any new immigration legislation passed by Congress should be to send the young illegal immigrants back home as quickly as possible. Just 27% say it should focus instead on making it easier for these illegal immigrants to remain in the United States. Fourteen percent (14%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)
Supporters for the illegal immigrants say that they are arriving in the U.S. due to violence in their home countries, but voters think otherwise. Just 31% said that they thought illegal immigrants were coming here to escape violence at in their home country. Instead, most voters (52%) believed that they were coming here for the economic benefits. 17% are unsure.
Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley has apparently done a 180 degree turn in his stance on illegal immigration. Politico.com reports that while previously criticizing efforts to deport illegal immigrants, O’Malley has instructed the White House not to send children detained at the border to a facility in Westminster, MD, that was being considered as a safe haven for the children. However, his reasoning is that the area being considered constitutes a conservative population which might not take well to the influx of immigrants.
The poll also found that 57% of voters disapprove of housing these illegal immigrants in their state. Half that number (29%) approve the move and 14% are undecided on the issue.
While the issue of providing a haven to these undocumented children is leaving the nation split, even more are uncertain of the $3.7 billion in new spending that President Obama has requested to deal with these new illegal immigrants. Twenty six percent of voters say Congress should approve the request for funds even if it delays deportation of the illegals and 40% are against approval for the funds if it does not speed up their deportation; 34% are undecided.
In a recent poll, 46% of respondents said they believed that the Obama administration’s stance through statements and policies has encouraged the recent increased influx of illegal immigrants.
These findings reveal that Americans are still strong supporters of border protection and they have suggestions about how this should be done.
Eighty three percent of voters have said they are knowledgeable of the recent situation at the U.S. Mexico border and 51% have said they are closely monitoring the situation; 85% of Republicans and 61% of voters not affiliated with any major party, want the main focus of new immigration reform to be to send these recent immigrants back to their country of origin.
Democrats are more lenient on the issue, 46% said new legislation should deal with keeping them here, while 36% are against keeping them.
Forty eight percent of Democrats believe that these immigrants are coming here to escape violence, while 75% of Republican respondents and 54% of the unaffiliated ranks are coming here solely for economic reasons.
Fifty two percent of Democrats approve of creating housing for these latest illegal immigrants. Republicans (86%), on the other hand and unaffiliated voters (62%) are vehemently opposed to providing a safe haven for them in their own states.