In Oregon, the 2006 election cycle saw candidates focus on immigration as a wedge issue, with mixed results. In a recent Statesman Journal story from the Oregon campaign trail, other topics are leading the conversation in 2008:
"While there was a lot of noise in the last election on [immigration], particularly as it related to Republican candidates, the reality is that when push came to shove, it didn't, frankly, seem to have that much bite at the ballot box," said Tim Hibbitts, a pollster with Davis, Hibbitts & Midghall, a polling firm in Portland [Oregon].
Readers will remember that the 2006 elections saw us on the lead-up to the immigration battle on the hill, when the changing of hands in Congress set the tone for the McCain/Kennedy comprehensive reform bill the following summer. It was the apparent lack of interest in the issue on behalf of voters in places like Oregon that convinced national politicians that voters wanted something different. Not that the issue wasn’t important, it just didn’t seem to hurt or help candidates all that much:
Hibbitts said he disagrees with the notion that voters punished candidates who took a punitive stance on illegal immigration during the 2006 campaigns. "Candidates thought immigration was going to be more salient at the ballot box, and it wasn't," he said, "so politicians have moved on to other issues they think will resonate with voters."
Given recent polling conducted by American Solutions, it is possible that the candidates simply had the wrong message (or even competing messages) for voters on the issue.
When the American People are asked their views on immigration, they speak with the clarity of an 80% tri-partisan majority: Use English as the official language of government, enforce our laws, control who has access to our country, and actively promote assimilation of legal immigrants into our culture by educating them in English and American history.
When stated so gracefully, issues like these are easy to understand and contrast with the usual political rhetoric. Americans have no distaste for immigrants, and they understand the plight of employers and politicians, but they recognize that there is a problem and simply want results.
What do you think?