Washington Post (The Fix)
By Amber Phillips
July 21, 2015
Donald Trump thinks most undocumented Mexican immigrants are rapists and criminals -- "some," he assumes, "are good people."
But
it appears Americans -- even conservatives -- think the exact opposite.
A new Washington Post / ABC News poll asked Americans whether they
think undocumented immigrants
from Mexico are mainly undesirable people like criminals or mainly
honest people trying to get ahead.
Here's the results from the July 16-19 poll. As you can see, it's no contest:
When
asked whether undocumented immigrants from Mexico are mainly
undesirable people like criminals or honest people trying to get ahead
(% who say each)
0204060Mostly honest74Undesirable16
Those
unequivocal numbers hold even when you break the responses down to just
conservatives, who tend not to support immigration reform that includes
a path to citizenship:
Not
even people who said they'd "definitely vote for Trump" -- about 14
percent of the population -- agree with his catch-all statements of
undocumented immigrants:
But
wait a second. If most Americans don't agree with Trump's assessment of
undocumented immigrants, then why the heck is Trump surging in the
polls, boosted in part by
those comments?
As
we're starting to realize, Trump's popularity may have less to do with
what Trump actually says and more to do with the fact that what he says
upsets the Washington
establishment.
Here's
what Wonkblog's Christopher Ingraham found on a visit with Trump
supporters in rural Upstate New York, "In many cases, their support for
Trump boiled down to a
simple fact: they were angry."
But Americans do harbor negative feelings toward some undocumented immigrants.
A
Fox News poll conducted July 13-15 found between 62 percent to 79
percent of Americans are at least somewhat concerned that "illegal"
immigrants are leading to an increase
in crime, terrorism, taking jobs from U.S. citizens and overburdening
government programs.
The
difference between the rest of the country and Trump? They don't take
their concerns and then disparage an entire group of people.
For more information, go to: www.beverlyhillsimmigrationlaw.com
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