May 5, 2004
A DAY LATE & A DOLLAR SHORT:
Democrats' immigration bill unlikely to woo Hispanic voters (Sergio Bustos, May. 4, 2004, Gannett News Service)
Top congressional Democrats who have proposed legalizing millions of undocumented immigrants are betting that millions of Hispanic voters will view immigration as a make-or-break issue in this year's presidential election.But their strategy, formally unveiled Tuesday, may do little if anything to sway the opinions of the 7 million Hispanic voters expected to cast ballots in November, according to political analysts and survey results.
In a poll of 800 Hispanics released in late January, immigration ranked fourth out of five on a list of the most important issues facing the country. About 30 percent of those polled named the economy as most important, compared to 15 percent who cited immigration.
The poll had a margin of error of plus or minus three percentage points. It was conducted by Bendixen & Associates, a Florida-based polling company that regularly tracks the opinions of Hispanics.
Immigration represents a "symbolic" issue for most Hispanics, said Sergio Bendixen, president of the polling company.
Nice thing about symbolic issues--the President got to demonstrate his commitment to Hispanics but they don't particularly mind if the reform got bogged down. Meanwhile, by the Summer, even most of the raving Right won't care about his having proposed it since it didn't pass. Posted by Orrin Judd at May 5, 2004 8:10 AM
It also helps that he proposed something radical but, IMHO, reasonable a while ago, so the democrats can try to out-pander him. So they go even further and the rabid conservative base can see how important it is for them to get to the polls.
Every time he seems stupid, he turns out to be smart.
Posted by: NKR at May 5, 2004 8:40 AMMexicans will never assimilate into this country
in a way that is anything but dissapointing to
the pro-immigration crowd. Don't forget when
the demographic balance shifts a bit more over the
next 20 years whites won't even be able to push
the point for assimilation, because they'll just
be another "voice in the wilderness."
In the best case within 50 years America will be divided up into actual or de-facto "bantustans".
One shudders to think about the worse case which
is outright tribal anarchy.
These are not things I want to believe, but they
are the only directions toward which reason points.
JH:
Yes, the point is to assimilate places like CA back into the culture these immigrants bring with them, not vice versa.
Posted by: oj at May 5, 2004 9:34 AMThe point, you see, is to make California and the Southwest like a Third World country, and cheer achievement.
Posted by: Paul Cella at May 5, 2004 10:50 AMYes, better the Third World than the Fourth, or Secular, World.
Posted by: oj at May 5, 2004 10:54 AM