Arizona's "likely voters" strongly disagree with the decision by leaders of the U.S. House to include a provision in a budget reconciliation bill "that would offer 10 years of work permits and legal status to approximately 8 million illegal immigrants" without any enforcement to curb future illegal immigration, according to a new Rasmussen Reports survey.
The two U.S. Senators for this political battleground state are pivotal in whether the amnesty passes as part of the nearly $2-trillion reconciliation bill. Most of their constituents say the amnesty would worsen the border crisis. The state's Hispanics, political independents, and suburbanites polled closely with the electorate as a whole in concerns about the border and amnesty.
Will Arizona's two U.S. Senators -- Kyrsten Sinema and Mark Kelly -- defy those overlapping demographic groups of Hispanics, independents and suburbanites whose shifting allegiances are likely to decide who controls Congress in next year's midterm elections?" -- Roy Beck, President of the NumbersUSA Education & Research Foundation which cosponsored the survey.
The survey of 924 Arizona "likely voters" on Tuesday, Nov. 16, found that the legalization in the House reconciliation bill exacerbates Arizonans' concerns about the border with Mexico. Three-quarters (77%) of voters are either very concerned (59%) or somewhat concerned (18%) about the monthly level of crossings at the Mexican border.
By a 65-25 percent margin, voters said the government "should adopt stricter policies" to control the border. The immigration provisions in the House's Build Back Better reconciliation bill would do the opposite, voters indicated. Nearly two-thirds (61%) of voters said the 10-year amnesty for illegal aliens "would encourage more illegal border crossings." That view was held by 64% of Hispanics, 60% of independents, and 63% of suburbanites.
[You can read the text of all questions and view topline results and crosstabs at: https://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/politics/partner_surveys/numbersusa_az_toplines_nov_16_2021_final ]
By more than a 2-to-1 margin, voters said they would be less likely (59%) to vote for a "member of Congress who supported work permits for the 8 million illegal immigrants" compared with 24% who said they would be "more likely to vote" for such a member. The margins were 64-27 for Hispanics, 62-20 for independents, and 59-23 for suburbanites.
About two-thirds of voters (64%) said "most people who cross that border with Mexico illegally" should be "returned to Mexico," compared with 29% who said they should be "allowed to live and work in the U.S. until requested to appear in court." That return-to-Mexico view was held by Hispanics (57-38), independents (65-26), and suburbanites (64-30).
On the question of the 10-year amnesty, 26% of voters said they "oppose amnesty under any condition." Another 31% picked a choice of "no amnesty should be considered until the border is under control." And 16% said they would "support the amnesty only if it includes provisions to stop future illegal immigration."
Only 21% of Arizona voters said they "support the 10-year amnesty in the Build Back Better bill," which has no provisions for regaining control of the Mexican border now or for discouraging illegal immigration in the future.
One enforcement provision that has strong-to-overwhelming support among every Arizona demographic of political party, ideology, ethnicity, religion, geography, education, income, gender and age group is the mandate that all employers use the federal electronic E-Verify system to help ensure that they hire only legal workers for U.S. jobs.
By a margin of 73-15 percent, Arizona voters say they want mandatory E-Verify. But the amnesty language in the reconciliation bill has no provision of any kind for removing the jobs magnet for future illegal immigration. The U.S. Representatives who voted for this legislation certainly don't understand the priorities of border-state voters such as those in Arizona." -- Roy Beck
