by Debra J. Saunders: There's a way in which journalists insert how they think Americans should stand on an issue, and you see it in stories on the Kennedy-Kyl immigration bill that tanked so spectacularly in Washington. Many newspapers reported that opinion polls showed that voters supported “major provisions” of the measure —usually without mentioning that polls also found that more voters opposed the bill than supported it. . . . the New York Times story forgot to mention: Its poll also found that 69 percent of Americans think illegal immigrants should be prosecuted and deported. No story there, I see. Pollster Scott Rasmussen found that 50 percent of voters opposed the immigration bill, while only 23 percent approved of it. “The immigration bill failed because a broad cross-section of the American people is opposed to it,” Rasmussen wrote. “Republicans, Democrats and unaffiliated voters are opposed. Men are opposed. So are women. The young don’t like it; neither do the no-longer-young. White Americans are opposed. Americans of color are opposed.” While most Americans may support giving illegal immigrants the ability to become citizens if they work and have no criminal record — a major provision cited in widely reported polls — what voters really want is less illegal immigration and stronger border enforcement. Rasmussen found that only 16 percent of voters believed the Kennedy-Kyl bill would do that. . . .
Washington pols know what many journalists cannot begin to grasp. American voters don’t want this bill. They want less, not more, illegal immigration. [Read More] Debra J. Saunders is a conservative columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle
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