Polls Show Immigration Definitely an Election Issue

On 10/17/06, the population of the United States topped 300 million, joining China and India as the only nations on the planet to reach that plateau. That's according to estimates from the U.S. Census Bureau. In 1970, immigrants constituted less than 5% of the U.S. population -- but that has changed dramatically. Per Carl Haub, Population Reference Bureau, over half of U.S. population growth today comes from immigration and then the children of immigrants, the births they have after they arrive. The biggest change appears to be the growth in the country's Hispanic population. In the 1970 census, there were only 9.6 million Hispanics living in the U.S. The estimated number today is roughly 43 million.

Center for Immigration Studies Poll results:

Voters are less likely to vote for candidates who favor increasing legal immigration.

Voters prefer the House version of immigration legislation over that put forth by the Senate.

Poll indicates that 44 percent of voters prefer across-the-board enforcement of current immigration laws, which happens to be the basis of the House bill; another 20% prefer large-scale deportations.

Three-fourths of those polled blamed "grossly inadequate" enforcement efforts in the past for the illegal immigration problem in the U.S. Voters strongly reject the argument that illegal immigration is caused by overly restrictive legal immigration policies.

A strong majorities of Americans want immigration laws enforced and illegal immigrants to go home. And one of the strongest findings, it adds, is that voters "overwhelmingly" oppose increases in legal immigration like that found in the Senate bill passed earlier this year. Read More