Immigration shimmigration

Washington has a knack for focusing on issues and legislation that no one really cares about. The latest? Immigration. It’s an issue which consistently ranks near the bottom when Americans are asked how concerned they are about it. Ah, you might say, that’s just because immigration has more of an impact in certain regions of the U.S. than in others. ...

Washington has a knack for focusing on issues and legislation that no one really cares about. The latest? Immigration. It's an issue which consistently ranks near the bottom when Americans are asked how concerned they are about it. Ah, you might say, that's just because immigration has more of an impact in certain regions of the U.S. than in others. Sorry, that argument doesn't fly, at least according to Jeff Jones, managing editor of the Gallup Poll. "When we've looked for differences in perceived importance of immigration by region of the country, we haven't found any large or consistent differences," Jones says. Compiling data from Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas, Gallup found that just 26 percent of Americans in those states consider immigration to be an "extremely important" issue. Nationally, that percentage is 31. Jones wrote before the immigration bill was taken up:

Washington has a knack for focusing on issues and legislation that no one really cares about. The latest? Immigration. It’s an issue which consistently ranks near the bottom when Americans are asked how concerned they are about it. Ah, you might say, that’s just because immigration has more of an impact in certain regions of the U.S. than in others. Sorry, that argument doesn’t fly, at least according to Jeff Jones, managing editor of the Gallup Poll. “When we’ve looked for differences in perceived importance of immigration by region of the country, we haven’t found any large or consistent differences,” Jones says. Compiling data from Arizona, California, New Mexico, and Texas, Gallup found that just 26 percent of Americans in those states consider immigration to be an “extremely important” issue. Nationally, that percentage is 31. Jones wrote before the immigration bill was taken up:

When we’ve tested issues on perceived public importance in recent months, immigration typically ranks near the bottom. In late January, Gallup asked Americans how important each of seven issues were for “the president and Congress to deal with in the next year.” Nearly 6 in 10 said Iraq and terrorism were “extremely important” issues. Close to half said the same about healthcare, the economy, and government corruption. Only 31% rated immigration as that important. 

In early January, Gallup asked how important a more extensive list of 12 issues were to Americans’ votes for Congress this year. Again, immigration was last on the list, with just 26% describing it as “extremely important” to their votes…

 

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