May
2013 Opinions of UTAH Voters about Jobs & Immigration
Policies
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BOTTOM
LINES
When the
Gang Bill issues are presented in the context of jobs and
unemployment, the state's voters overwhelmingly reject the solutions
of the Gang Bill.
A
significant minority of Utah voters feel at least some moral
responsibility toward helping families that have a member who is in
the country illegally. But four of five Utah voters feel at
least some moral responsibiltiy to protect American workers from
having to compete with foreign workers.
Utah
voters disagree 68% to 24% that we need more immigrant
workers. The central aspect of the Senate bill is that it
triples the number of work permits for foreign citizens in the first
10 years.
By
63% to 26%, they think full enforcement should come before
consideration of work permits. The Senate Judiciary
Committee repeatedly voted down amendments to put enforcement
first in the bill.
General
Attitudes: The
attitude toward the general scope of the Gang Bill as found in this
poll may seem quite different from many media polls which have found
substantial (although recently slipping) public support. The
key reason for the differences is likely found in the fact that the
media polls focus on "legalizing" or "normalizing"
the status of the illegal population while including some
punitive-sounding language, and often with the only alternative
offered being mass deportation; those polls rarely if ever mention
immigration as having any relationship to employment issues or as
involving work permits. And the media polls tend not to reflect
the key principle of the Gang Bill that the U.S. needs a lot more
immigrant workers.
This
poll uses neutral language throughout and attempts to offer clear and
simple questions and choices. But it does present the choices
on immigration in the context of the current unemployment situation,
which is the way the public will hear the debate as it heats up
toward a Senate floor vote -- and the way some candidates in the next
election may frame the votes. The key Senate spokesmen against
the bill are focusing on the unemployment context in their public
statements. This poll is especially helpful in measuring how
the public is likely to hear arguments against the bill based on jobs
issues.
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ONLY
26% SUPPORT GIVING WORK PERMITS BEFORE FULL IMPLEMENTATION OF BORDER
AND WORKPLACE ENFORCEMENT
Many
Senators who are on the fence may want to express some openness
toward legalizing some illegal immigrants but will vote against the
bill if they find it doesn't do enough to ensure that a large illegal
population can't form here again and if the amnesty includes too
broad of a group of current illegal aliens.
Question
11 gives people a choice of doing it the Gang Bill way, which is
giving out work permits at the beginning and then implementing border
and workplace enforcement over the next 10 years. There are many
reasons to doubt that the language of the bill guarantees
full enforcement even at the end of 10 years; but worded as if
the enforcement will happen, the question found 63% of
the state's voters oppose the bill's sequence of work permits first
and enforcement later, with 26% supporting it.
The
63% of state voters in this poll wanting full implementation before
"considering" giving work permits is in line with a
late-April poll by Fox News which has been notorious the last
few months for polls worded in a way to show support for an amnesty.
But this Fox poll also found 68% nationally wanted border security
measures to be completed before changes to immigration policies
We
believe the central issue of the Gang Bill is that it would give out
33 million lifetime work permits to both illegal and legal immigrants
over the first decade alone. That number, however, is not in the
poll.
But
Question 3 asks about the much lower figure of 7 million work permits
to illegal immigrant workers.
While
the media and many politicians focus on the requirements for getting
on the "path to citizenship," the amnesty begins
almost immediately after passage of the bill with the issuance of
work permits.
The
passion among voters is 2.5-to--1 opposed to those work permits
(35% strongly opposed vs. 14% strongly supporting).
All
national polling finds that the No. 1 concern of voters is about
putting Americans back to work
in a stronger economy. The results of this poll are a
strong sign that the voters
of this state don't find giving work permits to illegal aliens (the
central action in the Gang Bill) to be compatible with the highest
interest of the public in putting Americans back to work.
Question
4 asks those supporting work permits to choose how many of the
illegal immigrants whould get the permits. Only 17% of the
pro-permits voters chose the "nearly all" contained in the
bill. And about a third of the pro-permit voters would give the
work permits to only "some" of the illegal immigrants.
These
poll responses indicate that a Senator would have a huge public
backing for rejecting the Gang Bill merely for giving out the work
permits too broadly and before the full -- or any -- implementation
of enforcement to stop illegal immigration in the future.
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THE
CENTRAL REASON FOR MUCH OF THE BILL -- A SUPPOSED NEED FOR MORE
FOREIGN WORKERS TO COMBAT LABOR SHORTAGES -- IS REPUGNANT TO THE
STATE'S VOTERS
The
numbers of lifetime work permits in the first decade after the bill
are staggering, although this poll did not inform the respondents of
the 33 million figure. Several of the proponents of the Gang
Bill justify the increases by saying that the U.S. is suffering from
various shortages of workers in high skills and in low skills like
construction, hospitality, service, etc. Many of them claim
that low-skilled and less-educated foreign workers don't compete for
the same occupations as the 10 million less-educated Americans who
want a full-time job but can't find one.
This
poll suggests that a politician making those arguments in this state
would be driving voters away.
By
68% to 22%, the state's voters believe that less-educated illegal
immigrants compete with less-educated Americans for jobs.
Only
24% of the voters think there are labor shortages that need the
solution of more immigrant workers.
And
only 13% of the state's voters think the 1 million green cards given
out to new legal immigrants each year is too low.
The
first decade after the Gang Bill would see 33 million lifetime work
permits which is:
- 3 times higher than number of work permits per decade since 1990
- 10 times higher than the number per decade in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s.
Any
politican trying to defend such massive increases in foreign workers
during this time of high unemployment would be met by disbelief, if
not anger, from the voters.
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NOT
MUCH SYMPATHY FOR ILLEGAL ALIENS
Only
13% of the state's voters feel "a lot" of moral
responsibility to "help protect the ability of current illegal
immigrants to hold a job and support their families without fear of
deportation." And 29% feel "some" moral
responsibility.
However,
when the needs of the foreign citizens who are here illegally are
stacked against the needs of members of their own national community,
the state's voters clearly think the priority is American workers.
79%
of voters say Congress has "a lot" or "some"
moral responsibility to "help protect unemployed or low-wage
Americans from having to compete with foreign workers for U.S. jobs.
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REPUBLICANS
AND INDEPENDENTS OVERWHELMINGLY REJECT GANG BILL PRINCIPLES
Republican
crosstabs show tiny support for main Gang Bill principles:
- Only 30% of Republicans support giving work permits to illegal aliens. Passion is 7-1 (42% strongly oppose to 6% strongly favor).
- Only 18% of Republicans believe U.S. has a labor shortage that needs more immigrants.
- Only 8% of Republicans think the current 1 million green cards a year is too low (the Gang Bill triples the average number the first decade).
Passion
of state's Independents is much like Republicans:
- Independents are 12% strongly for work permits for illegal aliens and 35% strongly opposed
- Independents are 3% strongly agreed with a labor shortage needing more foreign workers and 36% strongly opposed
- Independents are 61% to 29% in favor of fully implemented enforcement before "considering" work permits for illegal aliens
