Liberals’ nightmare is continuing. Hispanics, the group the Democrats have worked so hard to court, claim to approve in large numbers to President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration policies, according to a Zogby Analytics poll conducted on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
According to the poll, conducted Nov. 9-10, policy on immigrants was a more important factor in making electoral choices to voters in the general population than it was to Hispanic voters.
The key findings of the Zogby Analytics poll include:
- 77.4% of Hispanic voters rated immigration as important or somewhat important in their voting decisions. That figure is substantially less than the 84.6% of all voters who said it was important or somewhat important, and a full ten percentage points less than the 87.8% of white voters who rated it important or somewhat important.
- 58.5% of Hispanic voters said they “support Donald Trump’s immigration policies,” including many who said they do not like him as a person. Conversely, only 32.9% of Hispanic voters said they “support Hillary Clinton’s immigration policies,” even though a much greater percentage liked her as a person. Among all voters, 54.7% supported Trump’s immigration policies compared with 38.4% who supported Clinton’s.
- 36.3% of Hispanic voters believe current immigration enforcement is too lax, double the number, 18.3%, who say it is too strict, and more than ten percentage points higher than those who think it is about right, 25.5%.
- Almost 4 in ten Hispanic voters favor “enforcing and strengthening laws against illegal immigration to encourage illegals to return home,” while 48.8% support allowing current illegal aliens “to become legal and remain in the country.”
“Donald Trump may not have won the Hispanic vote in this election, but clearly it was not because of his views on immigrants” observed Dan Stein, president of FAIR, who added:
If anything, his positions on immigration seem to have helped him among Hispanic voters whose economic circumstances are being harmed by excessive immigration and unchecked illegal immigration.
The conventional wisdom that advocating enforcement of immigration laws is a deal-killer for Hispanic voters is just plain wrong. It is a myth perpetuated by groups and individuals with a political stake in maintaining mass immigration and by a bunch of high-price political consultants who continually misread public sentiment.
As Republicans lay out their agenda on immigrants for the next two years in control of the White House and both houses of Congress, they would be well-advised to ignore the self-anointed spokespeople and the political consulting class. Enforcing immigration laws, securing our borders, protecting American workers and taxpayers, and setting reasonable limits on immigration enjoy broad public support, including large numbers of Hispanic Americans who stand to benefit economically from the policies President-elect Trump ran on.
The important takeaway here is that when we hear from liberal commentators that Republicans are hurting themselves with Hispanics, it’s time to tune out because they are feeding you a load of cow chips. Just like most other ethnic groups, Hispanics are American-first, and when it comes to election issues their first concerns are jobs, and the safety of their families.
Cross-posted at The Lid
