Bush's immigrant proposal draws lukewarm support, poll finds

[Judi Lynn]

Posted on Thu, Jan. 29, 2004

Bush's immigrant proposal draws lukewarm support, poll finds
By DAVID OVALLE
[e-mail]

President Bush's proposal to give temporary legal status to millions of undocumented workers has drawn lukewarm support among Hispanics, the group likely to be most impacted by any changes in immigration law, according to a national poll released Thursday.

About 42 percent of Latinos vaguely familiar with the plan supported Bush's proposal, 20 percent opposed it and 38 percent said they did know about the plan or did not have enough information to have an opinion.

But opposition to the plan, which Bush announced Jan. 7, surged when those polled were told that the plan would eventually require most temporary workers to return their native countries. Knowing that, 45 percent of Hispanics supported the plan, but the same percentage opposed it.

The telephone poll of 800 Hispanics was conducted in English and Spanish, included legal and undocumented respondents, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points. It was conducted by Bendixen & Associates, a Miami-based polling firm, between Jan. 20 and 26.
(snip/...)

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/news/breaking_news/7826870.htm

[Sapphocrat]

1. I expect the 'vaguely unfamiliar'...

...or completely uninformed would be those most likely to support the plan.

As for those polled who've read the fine print:

There are legal immigrants and illegal immigrants. One group would not benefit from such a plan. The other, having lived/worked in the U.S. for a year, five years, 15 years -- what possible benefit could they reap from a plan that essentially expires in three years? Why would those working "undercover" for any length of time want to expose their own identities by signing up?

The more I think about this, the more I wonder just who * thought he was catering to.

[aquart]

2. I thought the plan was flat out hated by both left and right.

A standard Bush success, in fact.