Over the past week we have been blitzed with polls purporting to show a dramatic shift in public opinion away from a longstanding opposition to amnesty. Conveniently, this sea-change corresponds with President Obama’s pitch for amnesty in Las Vegas, the unveiling of the “Gang of Eight’s” framework for amnesty legislation, and on the heels of Senator Marco Rubio’s media tour plugging his version of amnesty (the catchiest thing he has come up with so far is to call it “not amnesty”).
Have all reasonable people finally been persuaded that the right thing to do is to reward millions of illegal aliens and abandon any pretense of border security or interior enforcement? Do Americans really believe that illegal immigration is a net fiscal and economic benefit, and that employers who break the law by hiring illegal aliens are doing us all a favor? Have President Obama and Senator Rubio finally won over those well-intentioned but misguided voters who were clinging to such outmoded ideals such as national sovereignty, self-determination, and the rule of law? That is one possibility. Another is that these polls are designed with the explicit purpose of propping up the flimsy premise that amnesty is inevitable and only those “on the wrong side of history” would oppose it. If Obama, Rubio, public opinion, and history are against you, well, you don’t have a chance, do you? Unless, of course, the agitprop that passes for serious journalism these days is a poor reflection of voter sentiment on the issue. Let’s take a closer look at the polls.
A “ground-breaking bi-partisan poll” released by SEIU and America’s Voice found that 94% of Americans favor some form of amnesty. This is, of course, absurd, and to be taken seriously a poll has to at least be believable, which is why “respected” news outlets like AP, CNN, and NBC/Wall Street Journal have been a little less obvious is their push polling but no less pernicious in determining the outcome.
The AP poll found that “More than 6 in 10 Americans now favor allowing illegal immigrants to eventually become U.S. citizens.” As we pointed out last week, the AP asked a question totally unrelated to any possible legislative solution and offered only one choice, take it or leave it. NBC/WSJ also asked a single, similarly vague question. “As you may know, there is a proposal to allow foreigners who have jobs but are staying illegally in the United States to apply for legal status.” To what proposal are they referring? Proposed by whom? What are the details of said proposal?
The CNN poll is the most surprising result at first glance, until one looks at the way the findings are presented. “By a 53%-43% margin, people say that main focus of the federal government should be on developing a plan that would allow undocumented immigrants to become legal residents, rather than deporting them.” “People say?” What people? Registered voters, likely voters, American citizens? No, CNN polled anyone over 18 who agreed to participate. CNN didn’t require that one be at least a legal resident of the United States to participate in their poll. Neither did AP or NBC/WSJ. Now, these polls may tell us something about how “people” respond to push polling, but they tell us very little about how the American people feel about amnesty, and nothing about where voters stand on the issue.
Most Americans understand that no poll is definitive, and that many are taken simply to find a predetermined outcome. But the constant barrage of misinformation based on “scientific” polling is designed to weaken the resistance of those who hold a contrary view to the political and media elite. It is a massive misinformation campaign designed to convince those who oppose amnesty that they are out of step with their right-thinking neighbors. It is also designed to convince politicians that they are doing the right (popular with voters) thing. Get ready for more bogus polls. The amnesty fight is just getting started.