Sunday, July 04, 2010

Obama, Media Fail to Convince Evangelicals on Immigration

[A] recent nationwide Quinnipiac University poll out showed that just 12 percent of 454 white born-again and evangelical Christians said they backed reform policies that integrate illegal immigrants into American society. Eighty-three percent said they wanted reform to focus on stricter enforcement of illegal immigration laws.

-- From "GOP warned on immigration" by Scott Wong, Politico 7/1/10

President Barack Obama’s allies have been blasting the GOP’s blockade of immigration-reform legislation, making the case that Republicans will alienate a core constituency – conservative Christians – unless they get on board.

Republicans have brushed off that warning, calling it a distraction from the president’s failure to fix the nation’s broken immigration system. In fact, recent polls show there’s little support among white evangelicals for a Democrat-backed plan that includes a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants.

Support for reform is [claimed, by liberal media, to be] growing among evangelicals like the Southern Baptist Convention’s Richard Land and other conservatives including News Corp. chief Rupert Murdoch, said Ali Noorani, who heads immigrant advocacy group National Immigration Forum.

Meanwhile, 68 percent [of white born-again and evangelical Christians] said they support Arizona’s tough new immigration law, while 15 percent oppose it. The law, known as SB1070, requires police officers to verify the immigration status of individuals if there is suspicion they are in the country illegally.

. . . many view the path toward legalization as simply “amnesty” for those who have broken the law, a large part of why no Republicans other than [Sen. Lindsey] Graham have endorsed the plan.

To read the entire article, CLICK HERE.