Recent Media On Capturing Hispanic Vote Misses That Most Hispanics Think Immigration Too High

Highly paid PR firms for the open-borders lobby have gotten stories in many major newspapers this month suggesting that the only way to attract the Hispanic vote is to favor a comprehensive amnesty and also an increase in foreign workers. But a massive Zogby poll shows Hispanic views to be quite different.

If 56% of likely Hispanic voters (according to Zogby) think immigration already is too high, and only 7% think it is too low, why would a politician push for a jump in immigration? Not only would it apparently satisfy only 7% of likely Hispanic voters, but it definitely would turn off the majority of other voters concerned about high unemployment.

Several former Bush allies are working overtime to keep elected Republican leaders from helping unemployed Americans by importing less foreign labor.

Basically, what they are saying is that even if high immigration hurts U.S. workers, the Republicans should do the wrong thing in order to attract more Hispanic votes.

They aren’t just wrong morally, they are wrong in their counting. If few Republican candidates ever get more than 35% of the Hispanic vote, why would they think they can attract more by pushing for higher immigration when 56% of Hispanic voters want less?

Other open-borders consultants are pushing Democratic leaders to force a vote on amnesty this year as the only way to get Hispanics to come to the polls and vote for Democrats. But when Zogby gave likely Hispanic voters the choice between making illegal immigrants go home over time through better enforcement and giving them a path to citizenship, they favored attrition through enforcement by 52% to 34% over amnesty.

The one thing the consultants have right is that it makes a difference how politicians oppose amnesty and oppose foreign labor importation. Obviously, if the rhetoric is aimed at opposing Hispanics specificially, that is going to hurt with the Hispanic vote. But both Democrats and Republicans need to constantly remember that immigration policy is not about ethnicity but about numbers.

It is nice to have Zogby’s confirmation that likely Hispanic voters look for a practical numerical immigration policy in about the same way as the rest of U.S. voters.

ROY BECK is Founder & CEO of NumbersUSA