More Polling on Evangelicals and Immigration Reform
Yesterday, I noted that a new push by the National Association of Evangelicals in support of comprehensive immigration reform faces a key obstacle: opposition from the grassroots. I cited a 2006 poll by the Pew Research Center that found deeper misgivings about immigration among white evangelicals than among other religious groups.
But Robert Jones of Public Religion Research Institute sent me a more recent poll that his organization conducted in March of this year. That one offers a bit more nuanced portrait of white evangelical sentiment. On the one hand, the survey mirrored Pew's findings on attitudes toward immigration. Fifty-four percent of white evangelicals said immigrants were a burden on the country because they took away American jobs, housing, and health care (though this was 10 points less than the Pew results in 2006, Jones notes). Only 32 percent said immigrants strengthened the country because of their hard work and talents. The general population was evenly split on these questions, 45 percent versus 44 percent.
That said, when it came to choosing the appropriate policy response to the immigration problem, 60 percent of white evangelicals supported comprehensive reform that included a path to citizenship, compared with 31 percent who preferred an enforcement-only approach. That was almost identical to the findings for the general population. Like other religious groups, white evangelicals thought immigration policy should be guided by four principles: enforcing the rule of law and promoting national security (89 percent), ensuring fairness to taxpayers (85 percent), protecting the dignity of every person (79 percent), and keeping families together (78 percent).
In this respect, the gap between evangelical leaders and the pews isn't nearly as pronounced. And these findings also illustrate the sort of arguments that may work for the still unpersuaded: an emphasis on securing the borders, cracking down on law-breaking employers, bringing illegal immigrants out of the shadows so they pay their taxes in full, and reuniting families.
Like The Daily Beast on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates all day long.
Arian Campo-Flores was promoted to Miami Bureau Chief in July 2002, covering stories in the Southeastern U.S. He covered the pivotal state of Florida throughout the 2004 Campaign season and followed vice-presidential candidate John Edwards on the campaign trail.
Most recently, Campo-Flores covered the war in Iraq as an embedded reporter with the Third Infantry Division and, for a brief stint, with U.S. Special Forces. He wrote about the army's advance on Baghdad, Iraqi militia groups and clandestine military operations.
Before the Miami post, Campo-Flores had been New York Correspondent since April 2000, when he joined the magazine. Campo-Flores was one of the first Newsweek reporters at the World Trade Center site on Sept. 11, interviewing victims and emergency crews.
Prior to joining Newsweek, he was a staff reporter at the monthly magazine "The American Lawyer" since 1997, covering litigation, transactions, legal business and international affairs. He was a freelance production coordinator in San Francisco Calif. from 1995-96 and was an English teacher in Buenos Aires, Argentina from 1994-95.
Campo-Flores graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from University of California, Berkeley, in 1993 with a B.A. in Development Studies. He is a member of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and speaks Spanish and Portuguese. He lives in Miami.
For inquiries, please contact The Daily Beast at editorial@thedailybeast.com.
Comments