Quinnipiac: Public Responds to S.B. 1070 and Dream Decree

By Jon Feere and Jon Feere on June 29, 2012

A pollster for the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute explains that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision on Arizona's S.B. 1070 will make immigration a central issue during the presidential election this November. The pollster points to some recent surveys not widely reported by the media:

A Quinnipiac University national survey [from April 20] showed 62 percent of American voters in favor of the court upholding Arizona's immigration law. Hispanic voters were divided as 45 percent wanted the court to uphold the law while 43 percent wanted the law overturned. A November 3, 2011, Quinnipiac University poll found that 56 percent of U.S. voters wanted their state to pass a law similar to Arizona's immigration law.


Meanwhile, a new Quinnipiac survey of swing-state voters finds that Obama's controversial decision to give millions of illegal aliens work permits via his "Dream Decree" may cost the incumbent votes. In Ohio, 27 percent said the decree made them less likely to support Obama, while only 11 percent said the decree made them more likely to support him. In Pennsylvania, the spilt was nearly the same at 27 percent less likely, and 12 percent more likely. In Florida, 22 percent said the decree would make them less likely to support Obama, while only 17 percent said it would make them more likely to do so.

Interestingly, the same survey seemed to find support for the decree, which suggests that while voters in these states support the Dream Act as a concept, they do not support President Obama's side-stepping of the legislative process.