An unreleased poll shows that one third of Hispanic voters and political independents strongly blame President Barack Obama for the border breakdown that has allowed at least 100,000 unskilled Central Americans to flood over the border.
The poll matches other polls showing that middle-class Hispanics oppose a large inflow of illegal or unskilled immigrants.
The public’s hostile reaction to the border meltdown means trouble for the senators who voted in June 2013 for a business-backed bill that encouraged the Central American migration, said Roy Beck, the director of NumbersUSA.
The 2013 bill, which was rejected by House GOP legislators, would have amnestied at least 12 million illegals, and also boosted the inflow of guest workers to more than one million per year.
By backing Obama and the immigration bill, Democratic senators “have worked arm-in-arm with Obama on creating this crisis,” Beck said. “Every one of the Democratic senators need to be held responsible for helping to create this crisis,” he added.
The new TIPP poll, conducted for Investor’s Business Daily and obtained by The Daily Caller, shows that 39 percent of 693 people who are following the story “agree strongly” the recent flow of migrants is the result of the administration’s pro-immigration policies and its lack of focus on securing the border.
Another 20 percent “agree somewhat.” Only 23 percent disagree strongly, and 16 percent disagree somewhat.
That’s 59 percent to 39 percent.
The poll shows that some Hispanics and most independents blame the administration.
Thirty-six percent of independents agree strongly, and 24 percent agree somewhat that blame lies in the White House. That negative response from independents is matched by criticism from 30 percent of liberals and 53 percent of moderates.
The 60 percent blame-Obama score is balanced by a 36 percent don’t-blame-Barack score from independents. Twenty percent of independents disagree strongly and 16 percent disagree somewhat.
Among Hispanic adults — not just citizens or just voters — 37 percent agree strongly that Obama is to blame, while 33 percent disagree strongly.
But Hispanic opinion is more polarized that other groups. Fewer Hispanics adults held “somewhat” opinions. Only nine percent of Hispanics agreed somewhat, and 21 percent disagreed somewhat.
The IBD/TIPP poll contacted 879 adults from June 24 to June 29. That’s before media coverage of the Americans in Murrieta, Calif., who successfully blocked three buses of illegal immigrants who were to be processed and released in their town.
The IBM/TIPP results match the data from a Rasmussen poll of 1,000 likely voters, which was released July 6.
Seventy-five percent of likely voters were following the story closely, said Rasmussen.
Seventy-four percent of all likely voters rated the administration’s response as poor or fair. Only 28 percent gave it excellent or good ratings.
Forty-six percent of Rasmussen’s respondents agreed that “the Obama administration encouraged this wave of illegal immigration.” So did 51 percent of political independents, 47 percent of non-white, non-black, “other” respondents who are mostly Hispanics along with some Asians.
In Rasmussen’s poll, 41 percent of moderates and 50 percent of college grads blame the president.
Eleven percent of people who strongly approved of Obama, and 21 percent of people who “somewhat approve” of Obama, still blamed him for the crisis, said Rasmussen.
Only 31 percent of the likely voters opposed blaming Obama.
Thirty-one percent of political independents, 14 percent of Republicans, 29 percent of Asians and Hispanics — non-white, non-black others, in the poll — also declined to blame the president for his immigration policies.
Numerous polls have shown that Americans who are also Latino oppose illegal immigration.
Fifty-nine percent of Hispanics in a 2012 poll by the Pew Research Center agreed that, “We should restrict and control people coming to live in our country more than we do now.”
A June 2013 Gallup poll showed that only 25 percent of Hispanics wanted immigration increased, while 30 percent wanted immigration reduced, and 43 percent wanted it to stay level.
A June 2014 poll of 800 registered Latinos by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed that “77 percent [support] for an E-Verify system for employers, 78 percent for stronger border security, and 90 percent for allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status if they pass a background check, pay a fine and taxes owed, have a job, and learn English.”
A 2013 poll by John McLaughlin that included 470 registered Hispanic voters showed that 64 percent wanted employees to verify that job applicants are legal, and 59 percent wanted enough border security to block 90 percent of border-crossers. Sixty percent of the respondents in the poll said they would delay legalization of illegals until the 90 percent border-security level is reached, and 56 percent would deny welfare benefits to illegals until the border is fixed.
Still, both the Zuckerberg and the McLaughlin polls also showed much solidarity with illegal immigrants, alongside opposition to illegals and large-scale migration.
The McLaughlin poll, which was conducted for a vineyard that wants more Hispanic farm workers, showed that 77 percent of Hispanic adults support a simultaneous amnesty and border-security increase.
The poll by Zuckerberg showed that “90 percent [of Hispanic voters are] for allowing undocumented immigrants to obtain legal status if they pass a background check, pay a fine and taxes owed, have a job, and learn English.”
