Everybody Loves Amnesty

David Weigel | April 19, 2007

Hell of a polling result from USA Today:

While Congress and the White House remain divided over what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the USA, a new poll shows the American public appears to have reached a consensus on the question. A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken last weekend found that 78 percent of respondents feel people now in the country illegally should be given a chance at citizenship.

I don't see the whole poll on the Gallup site, but take the least charitable view - that the wording was cooked to coax the most alien-friendly results - and it's still hard to explain away. People are clearly not as anti-illegal immigrant as we in the media figured before the 2006 elections. There's a very vocal, angry chunk* of the population that wants to build a border wall, and a smaller chunk that wants to deport illegals, but even many of the people who want illegal immigration stopped figure the immigrants are basically hard-up, hard-working people.

Read Reason's reporting on the immigration issue, including great articles by Malia Politzer and Kerry Howley, right here.

*There's some disagreement about the use of the word "angry." You could substitute "scared" or suggest another reason why people build walls.