A new statewide survey suggests that the attitude of Arizonans about illegal immigrants may not be as harsh as that of many politicians.
The poll done for the Morrison Institute for Public Policy found that 78 percent of Arizonans said they would support legislation allowing those in this country illegally to become citizens under certain circumstances. That includes having no criminal record either here or in their home country, pay a fine, get a taxpayer ID number, and demonstrate they can speak English.
That even includes 69 percent of Republicans who were questioned earlier this month in the telephonic survey of 600 adult heads of households.
But pollster Bruce Merrill said it would be an oversimplification to say that Mesa voters ousted Russell Pearce on Tuesday because he has authored several measures aimed at illegal immigrants.
Merrill said separate questions show that about 70 percent of Arizonans support SB 1070. That legislation enacted last year is designed to give police more power to detain and arrest those not in the country legally.
“The issue of illegal immigration is much more complex than most people realize,’’ Merrill said. And he said that is reflected in the views of Arizonans he has questioned.
“They make a clear difference between being tough on the border, not just for illegal immigration (but) for terrorists and gun runners ... and what to do with people who have been here for a long time,’’ he said.
But Gov. Jan Brewer said the issues are linked.
“I think everybody wants a path to citizenship,’’ said Brewer, acknowledging that there are perhaps 400,000 illegal immigrants in Arizona and 11 million nationwide who are not likely to self deport.
“But the bottom line is, the majority of the people, myself included, is that we don’t want to talk about comprehensive immigration reform until we get our borders secured,’’ she said. Brewer said only when federal officials “do their job’’ will most Arizonans be willing to support legislation that lets those who entered the country illegally remain.
That question has divided Arizona politicians for some time.
Sen. Jon Kyl, the state’s junior U.S. senator, at one point proposed requiring anyone who wants to become a citizen to first return to his or her own country. But that idea failed to gain traction amid questions of whether it was realistic to expect that may people to self deport.
By contrast, John McCain, the state’s other Republican U.S. senator, had at one point proposed “earned citizenship’’ in a form very similar to what Merrill sketched out in his question. But McCain backtracked after taking heat from conservatives within his own party and as he prepared his unsuccessful 2008 bid for president.
Merrill said he found younger Arizonans more accepting of the idea of providing a path to citizenship than older ones.
The survey has a margin of error of less than 5 percentage points.
arizonaboy posted at 9:38 am on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
Another bogus survey...I've yet to have anyone ask me for my opinion...
chatmandu002 posted at 9:44 am on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
Build the wall, build it now.
Enforce all the laws all the time.
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:16 am on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
ASU....Morrisson Institute for Public Policy ...........Excuse Me......[wink]
ram1009 posted at 10:29 am on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
You can prove or disprove anything with a survey. It's all in how the questions are worded. I'm no fan of Pearce's campaign tactics but he's worth putting up with if he can affect the exit of illegals. I've lived in Az for over 50 years and one of the first things I learned about illegals is that they don't want to be citizens. They want to exploit our system. We already have enough Americans doing that.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:44 am on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
As Randy Parraz was leaving the Lewis Victory Party he handed Lewis the first legislation he is to introduce.
By 2015 all students must speak Spanish in order to graduate.
By 2020 all new hires for any business or organization or government position must speak fluent Spanish and read and write Spanish as well.
Arizona Willie posted at 10:55 am on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
Ah yes a survey from a business think tank that wants cheap labor .... nothing biased about a survey from those folks.
Accuracy posted at 11:17 am on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
“Survey suggests Arizona's stance on illegal immigration softer than thought.”
Historically, Latinos vote Democratic, a party they feel has been more sympathetic to their causes. And immigration does top the list of liberal Hispanic concerns. They are looking closely at how both sides (of the divided Arizona politicians) are handling illegal immigration issues, green card status, and paths to citizenship for illegals.
HB 2162 legislation, that made changes to laws relating to the enforcement of federal and state immigration laws, is constitutional and essential for the State of Arizona, and it was left out of the telephonic survey of the 600 adult heads of households.
samkat posted at 12:23 pm on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
I certainly did not get called or I would given them a much stronger opinion of amnesty for people who seem to think that jumping the line is acceptable.
AndyB posted at 1:37 pm on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
Illegal is still illegal despite what an ASU propaganda poll says.
Masterrogue666 posted at 2:31 pm on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
No one called me! I say they need to go home, and get in line. There are those persons that are FOLLOWING THE LAW of OUR COUNTRY and they should be given PRIORITY, not a bunch of criminals.
Juggernaut8000 posted at 4:44 pm on Thu, Nov 10, 2011.
Illegals should be spayed/neutered and a tattoo of 'illegal' be marked on their forehead and then shipped back to mexico. If cought here again, executed.
Rational Human posted at 10:26 am on Fri, Nov 11, 2011.
Morrison Institute for Public Policy is a ASU front. They probably got the phone book of registered democrats and called just them. They found that 78 percent of Arizonans said they would support legislation allowing those in this country ILLEGALLY to become citizens under certain circumstances. That includes having NO CRIMINAL RECORD either here or in their home country. First off, illegal aliens are all MISDEMEANOR CRIMINALS in this county right now weather or not they committed any other crimes after sneaking into our country, and the one's who were previously deported and sneaked back in are FELONY CRIMINALS. They went on to say that 70 percent of Arizonans support SB 1070. Kind of a curious contradiction don't you think. How a survey question is ask can change the answer, and I'm sure this ASU front ask it in such a way as to elicit the result that they wanted. Not much they could do about the SB1070 support question though. You're either for it or against it and we are resoundingly in favor of it. Howy (La Ratza) Fischer is a dreamin'
quietgardens posted at 7:09 am on Sun, Nov 27, 2011.
I'm not sure who they asked in this survey, but I can't believe the results. There is no way this can be true. Take your own personal survey of Arizonans and see what information you can find on this topic.
Rational Human posted at 7:17 am on Fri, Dec 9, 2011.
The pollsters have a single "Big Trick" that skews all the results:
The polls don't give voters the option of Attrition Through Enforcement.
Instead, they make voters basically choose between mass deportations or mass legalizations. In the case of a National Journal poll just released, voters were given a third choice of half-mass deportations and half-mass legalizations (which is essentially the Gingrich Amnesty).
But nowhere do voters hear that there is an Attrition Through Enforcement option that doesn't involve mass deportations or mass legalizations. What Attrition does do is:
1.Quickly (over a couple of years) moves illegal aliens out of their payroll jobs.
2.Quickly takes away taxpayer-provided benefits
3.Gradually over perhaps 10 years causes illegal aliens to go home on their own.