{"id":16871,"date":"2018-04-13T08:41:44","date_gmt":"2018-04-13T12:41:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/live-immigrationreform.pantheonsite.io\/?p=16871"},"modified":"2018-12-28T10:36:14","modified_gmt":"2018-12-28T15:36:14","slug":"nbc-news-pushes-push-poll-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.immigrationreform.com\/2018\/04\/13\/nbc-news-pushes-push-poll-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"NBC News Pushes a Push Poll on Immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"

A new NBC News poll<\/a> purports to show that people in the South \u2013 generally considered to be the most conservative region of the country \u2013 are all-in for amnesty. \u201cWhile Trump\u2019s hardline policies on illegal immigration may appeal to his base, Southerners are in line with the rest of the country on the question of whether undocumented immigrants in the U.S. should be offered a chance to apply for legal status,\u201d states the NBC report.<\/p>\n

Except, the poll doesn\u2019t really show that Southerners, or the rest of the country, is really in support of mass amnesty. (Nor is there any substantiation of the assertion that Trump\u2019s policies are \u201chardline,\u201d but that\u2019s another matter.) What the poll actually shows is that people don\u2019t think mass deportation is the preferred, or exclusive, remedy for dealing with illegal immigration.<\/p>\n

The NBC poll, like virtually all polls purporting to show support for amnesty, offers respondents only two choices for address illegal immigration: Amnesty or deportation. Just in case that very limited menu wasn\u2019t not enough to elicit the response the pollsters were looking for, the terminology of the options was carefully chosen. Respondents are asked if \u201cundocumented\u201d immigrants should be \u201coffered a chance for legal status,\u201d or whether they should be \u201cdeported to the country they came from.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you want to offer people a chance, or do you want to unceremoniously kick them out? Would you prefer filet mignon, or leftover meatloaf?<\/p>\n

NBC News opines that the political views of people in the South are \u201cmore nuanced than many might expect.\u201d Ironically, the ability of NBC News to frame poll questions turns out be much less<\/em> nuanced than one might expect. If NBC really wanted to gauge how people think the nation should address illegal immigration, their pollsters should have given respondents a fuller \u2013 dare we say, nuanced \u2013 menu of options. But, of course, that was never really NBC\u2019s goal.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, NBC News employed the services of the firm Survey Monkey<\/a> to conduct this poll. Judging by the questions they asked, one has to wonder if an actual monkey could have done a better job.