Mickey Kaus, over at Slate, did and interesting piece on the immigration polls cited by pro enforcement media and pro amnesty media. Yes there are such things.
The polls pro enforcement media cite, show there is fierce opposition to illegal immigration, more specifically, the amnesty bill that just won’t die (S.1348). At the same time, the pro amnesty media says the majority of Americans “favor an earned path to citizenship” and a guest worker program.
What’s up with this? Obviously, they both cannot be correct. Or can they?
Frank Newport, of Gallup Reporting Services, wrote an insightful article on this contradiction.
Gallup’s polling data reveals, when it comes to illegal immigration, 50% of the American people are following the issue and have adequate knowledge of the subject. While 50% of those polled, haven’t followed the issue and lack sufficient knowledge of illegal immigration and the amnesty bill.
Here is Newport’s analysis of the polling numbers…
“One of the important findings here is that a majority of Americans simply don’t have an opinion on the immigration bill — despite its prominence in news coverage and talk show discussions in recent weeks. This is consistent with the data showing that only 18% of Americans say they are following news about the bill very closely.
The second important finding is that among those do know enough about the bill to have an opinion, there is roughly a three to one level of opposition over support. Additionally, a majority of opponents to the bill feel strongly about their views, while a majority of those who favor the bill say they don’t feel strongly about their opinion.
In short, there is a core group of about one-third of Americans who are opposed to the bill, counterbalanced by only about one-tenth who support it. This is in the context of the largest group of Americans — a clear majority — that says they don’t know enough about the bill to have an opinion about it.
Opposition to the bill is very high — 61% — among those who are paying very close attention to it, while only 17% of this group favor it. The ratio of opposition to support drops among those who are following news of the bill somewhat closely, and even more so among the few Americans not paying much attention to the bill who have an opinion.”
Apparently, those who are following the illegal immigration issue “not too closely” are the majority of the people who favor the amnesty bill.
Those who have followed the issue closely, in other words, those who are somewhat educated on the subject of illegal immigration, are the majority of the people who oppose amnesty for illegal aliens.
This makes a lot of sense to me on a number of levels. Being painfully familiar with the pro amnesty talking points, I often found them weak and off the mark. Their justifications for amnesty, open borders and the current legislation, lack any substance and often I find their talking points nonsensical.
You would expect talking points of this nature emanating from and directed at people who have not educated themselves on the issue of illegal immigration. The bottom line is only people who are not familiar with illegal immigration are most apt to support it and the amnesty bill.
Now it also makes sense to me why the mainstream media handles illegal immigration in the manner they do. Mainstream reporting of illegal immigration usually has an emotional appeal and race baiting element to it. First they appeal to the un-knowledgeable by pulling at the heart strings. Then they label pro enforcement advocates as xenophobes, bigots and racists. The mainstream media is very effective and manipulative in their handling of a population that is ignorant to the subject.
This mainstream media approach fosters ignorance. By making the topic of illegal immigration distasteful through labeling the issue as racial and emotional, people get turned off of the issue and remain ignorant. The polls have shown, ignorance builds support for the amnesty bill and illegal immigration in general.
It’s clear why they produce the articles they publish or broadcast. These articles are specifically targeted to those individuals who do not have much familiarity with the illegal immigration issue. This explains why those who are knowledgeable about illegal immigration are most often offended by the mainstream media.
The end result of the msm approach is to create an opinion about illegal immigration and the amnesty bill where none existed. The “engineering” of an opinion that favors open borders and the illegal alien amnesty bill.
An interesting side note is I have found most illegal alien supporters have a liberal political ideology. As with immigration, I often find liberal positions weak, lacking substance, sometimes laughable and sometimes offensive. As with the illegal immigration dilemma, perhaps liberal positions are formulated on this same lack of knowledge on any given issue. That would explain a lot, but I digress.
The conclusions that I have drawn from this information is as follows:
- Polls showing the majority of Americans are against illegal immigration and the amnesty bill and polls showing Americans favor a “path to citizenship” and a guest worker program are both correct.
Though those favoring the bill, a “path to citizenship” and a guest worker program lack sufficient of knowledge on the issue.
- People who are most educated on the issue of illegal immigration are most likely to oppose open borders, illegal immigration and the amnesty bill.
- People who have the least amount of familiarity with illegal immigration and the amnesty bill are most likely to support either or both.
- Of the Americans who have sufficient knowledge of the issue of illegal immigration, they oppose it and the amnesty bill by a very strong margin of 3 to 1.
- Of those in the minority that favor the amnesty bill, three in ten support the bill because “something needs to done” or they have bought into the mainstream media mantra that “it’s impractical to deport illegal aliens”.
Keep in mind, that this is the group most ignorant on the subject of illegal immigration.
- The mainstream media is targeting those ignorant on the issue. They are using manipulative, emotional and race baiting techniques on this audience. Politicians are also targeting this group in the same manner.
This is useful information to the pro enforcement advocates. In order for us to be politically effective, we need to play the roll of educator. The polls prove that the more people know about the subject of illegal immigration the more likely they are to oppose it.
Approximately 50% of Americans have an adequate understanding of the illegal immigration issue. This makes targeting those we need to educate an easy task.
When we encounter polls that support illegal aliens and amnesty, we automatically have the defense that only those ignorant on the subject, support amnesty and illegal immigration. Our counter to those taking the pro alien position is to educate them.
In addition to calling, emailing, faxing and writing our political leaders, we need to spearhead an initiative to educate the 50% of the people who are not familiar with the illegal immigration issue.
By doing so, we will swell the ranks of those opposed to illegal immigration and amnesty. This will only grow the political clout, as evidenced by the temporary defeat of the illegal alien amnesty bill, that we now have.
Encourage those not familiar with illegal immigration to visit websites like FAIR, NumbersUSA and the Center for Immigration Studies. These websites offer an enormous array of educational material about illegal immigration. Use basic literature like the Connecticut Citizens for Immigration Control’s (CTCIC) Newsletter and Brochure. This literature provides an elementary understanding of the issue and guides people to other educational resources.
In light of the fact that the mainstream media seeks to keep the masses ignorant on illegal immigration, it’s up to us to counter that in the most aggressive ways possible.
Educate everyone you come across. Provide them with and guide them to educational sources. Get them on your email lists for continuing educational purposes. Encourage them to become politically active.
Knowledge is power. Provide the knowledge and we will have the power to defeat illegal immigration and any legislation that favors it.
A very grateful hat tip to Hotair, Michelle Malkin and Mickey Kaus.
Permalink: http://peoplespatriot.com/?p=78
Trackback: http://peoplespatriot.com/wordpress/wp-trackback.php?p=78
Other Patriots Providing Illegal Immigration Education
The bribe is coming from Freedom of Philadelphia
It’s about terrorism, stupid from Right Truth
“God Bless America Again” from Common Sense America
Secret Squirrel Mission #2 - A Chat with Senator Isakson… from GA Crime Watch
This was a production of The Coalition Against Illegal Immigration (CAII). If you would like to participate, please go to the above link to learn more. Afterwards, email stiknstein-at-gmail-dot-com and let us know at what level you would like to participate.
A 
This is a great day for America. For the time being and perhaps much longer, Americans have defeated the illegal alien amnesty legislation known as S.1348. For those of us who truly comprehended what was at stake with this legislation, there were many dark hours of doubt as it seemed that our country was slipping away by the minute. 
Powered by FireStats