Voters overwhelmingly oppose the Democrats’ threat to shut down the government unless the GOP provides an amnesty to roughly 3 million illegals, according to a new poll by Rasmussen.
“Just 27% agree with Senate Minority Whip [Sen.] Dick Durbin’s call for a government shutdown to force a congressional decision on the Dreamers question separate from the border security issue,” said Rasmussen Reports. “Twice as many (55%) oppose a government shutdown for this reason. Seventeen percent (17%) are undecided.”
The shutdown threat is backed by only 26 percent of blacks, 35 percent of Democrats, 21 percent of moderates, 37 percent of people who earn more than $200,000, 23 percent of post-graduates, and 31 percent of people who strongly disapprove of President Donald Trump’s policies.
But the shutdown threat is opposed by 58 percent of blacks, 49 percent of Democrats, 42 percent of liberals, and 63 percent of people who earn from $30,000 to $63,000.
A large percentage of respondents, 17 percent, said they were “not sure” about the issue.
The poll of 1,000 likely voters was conducted November 30 and December 3. The poll used the term “dreamer’ to refer to the 3 million illegals, not to the four million young Americans who will become adults this year.
The Rasmussen poll results help explain the GOP’s confident dismissal of the Democrats’ off-and-on threat to block the 2018 federal budget unless the GOP accepts the ‘Dream Act’ amnesty for 3 million illegals, including the 690,000 current ‘DACA beneficiaries.
Democrats and their ethnic allies are insisting on the passage of a “clean Dream Act” which would exclude any post-amnesty protections for Americans, such as a cap on the subsequent chain-migration of the illegals’ parents and foreign in-laws.
A government shutdown to win an amnesty “is a ridiculous idea” McConnell told ABC’s Sunday show, “This Week” on December 3. He continued;
There is no crisis. The president has given us until March to address the issue of undocumented children who came into the country — a very legitimate case here — here through no choice of their own, and are in a kind of difficult spot. But there’s no emergency. The president has given us to March to address it.
Polls show the GOP is in a strong position because business groups and Democrats embrace the misleading, industry-funded “nation of immigrants” polls which pressure Americans to say they welcome migrants. But alternative “fairness” polls show that voters put a much higher priority on helping their families, neighbors, and fellow nationals get decent jobs in a high-tech, high-immigration, low-wage economy. The political power of the voters’ fairness priorities was made clear during the GOP primaries and again in November 2016.
The Rasmussen poll is similar to the fairness polls because asks Americans to prioritize continued government operations or an amnesty for illegals. Unsurprisingly, the illegals lose the priority contest.
A second question in the Rasmusen poll asked a similar priority question: “How important is it to secure the border before dealing with the Dreamers question?” Forty-three percent said it is very important, while only 12 percent said it is not important. That’s 3.5:1 ratio in favor of the reform-before-amnesty strategy pushed by immigration reformers, such as the Center for Immigration Studies.
Democrats are expected to join Trump, McConnell and the House Speaker Ryan in the White House for budget talks on Thursday. Their return to budget talks will come 10 days after they walked out of talks on November 28, following Trump’s use of Twitter to ridicule their amnesty-or-shutdown demand.
The Democratic leaders, however, now face the difficult task of walking away from their shutdown threat without disappointing their pro-amnesty allies.
Many progressives are convinced the demand for a no-strings amnesty is popular, and pro-amnesty groups are scheduling protests and stunts in December to stampede GOP legislators into supporting the inclusion of an amnesty in the 2018 budget.
Similarly, the Washington Post reported December 4 that:
Through three presidents over a decade, young undocumented immigrants known as “dreamers” have emerged as a potent political force and the sympathetic public face of the immigration debate …
This month, the dreamers face the biggest test yet of their political clout — a make-or-break moment in their long path to the precipice of becoming fully legalized residents. A loss would mean a devastating return to living in the shadows and the perpetual fear of being deported …
“This is the moment,” said Cristina Jiménez, executive director and co-founder of United We Dream, the nation’s largest dreamer organization. The group is planning a major mobilization Wednesday in which thousands of members are expected to flock to Washington to lobby Congress.
The Washington Post article was written by The article does not describe the scale of the proposed amnesty, the financial cost or the impact on Americans’ ability to earn a good living. It also downplays questions about the depth of support among some GOP legislators for the huge Dream Act demand.
Meanwhile, McConnell and other GOP leaders are likely to propose a February deal which would offer some form of amnesty to some illegals in exchange for cuts to chain migration and other benefits for Americans. That debate is expected shortly after Christmas.