Immigration overtakes health care as top issue for voters

[anatta]

Immigration has surpassed health care as the issue that voters see as the most important facing the United States, according to a new Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey released exclusively to The Hill.

Forty-two percent of registered voters pointed to immigration as the top issue, compared to 38 percent who chose health care, the survey shows.

Older people were more likely to pick immigration as their top issue, with 55 percent of voters 65 and older saying so. Only 25 percent of voters aged 18-24 chose immigration as the most important issue.

The poll underscores just how prominent a role immigration is poised to play in the 2020 election cycle after health care had topped the concerns of voters.

“For most of the last few years health care, a Democratic issue, has been the most important issue, but as the full nature of the problems at the border became evident, it has risen to the top issue in the country,” Mark Penn, the co-director of the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll, said. "That’s why Democrats in the Senate and House got together to pass emergency relief legislation.”

President Trump has hinged much of his political career on a hard-line message of cracking down on unauthorized border crossings as well as tightening legal immigration.

Democrats, on the other hand, are advocating for looser restrictions on immigration, with many of the party’s presidential candidates coming out in favor of decriminalizing illegal border crossings.

The trend toward immigration as the top issue also marks a shift away from the political conversation in 2018, which hinged primarily on health care.

Democrats running for Congress that year largely ran on a poll-tested message of protecting the Affordable Care Act from Republican attempts to dismantle it, as well as promises to expand coverage. The message was seen as one of the factors that allowed Democrats to take over the House.

More recently, however, the immigration debate has taken center stage.

Congress sent a $4.6 billion humanitarian aid package to Trump’s desk last week following a bitter fight over protections for migrant children in shelters.

And at the first round of Democratic presidential debates, candidates staked out more liberal positions on immigration, embracing ideas like decriminalizing border crossings and providing health insurance to undocumented immigrants — a show of how Trump’s hard-line views have pushed Democrats to the left in the immigration debate.

No other issue comes close to rivaling immigration and health care in the minds of U.S. voters, according to the Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll survey. Terrorism and national security came in third place with 23 percent, while jobs and the economy placed fourth with 22 percent.

When it comes to Congress, 19 percent of voters said that addressing the status of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S. should be the top priority for the Democratic House majority. Tied for second place on that front was impeaching Trump and stimulating the economy, each taking 13 percent in the survey.

The Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll online survey of 2,182 registered voters was conducted from June 26-29.
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaig...sue-for-voters

[anatta]

Democrats on high alert to block any funding for Trump's border wall
https://thehill.com/latino/451447-de...ps-border-wall

[Wolverine]

Democrats on high alert to block any funding for Trump's border wall
https://thehill.com/latino/451447-de...ps-border-wall

I hope sensible people see this for what it is, they create the crisis by saying there isn't one, then whine, and moan when the crisis they created starts to affect the illegal migrants. This is exactly what they wanted by opposing the wall! They do not care about people, power is their goal. Try helping the American Homeless before letting in Illegals and caring for them.

[katzgar]

I hope sensible people see this for what it is, they create the crisis by saying there isn't one, then whine, and moan when the crisis they created starts to affect the illegal migrants. This is exactly what they wanted by opposing the wall! They do not care about people, power is their goal. Try helping the American Homeless before letting in Illegals and caring for them.

Your drug use is making you delusional

[anatta]

I hope sensible people see this for what it is, they create the crisis by saying there isn't one, then whine, and moan when the crisis they created starts to affect the illegal migrants. This is exactly what they wanted by opposing the wall! They do not care about people, power is their goal. Try helping the American Homeless before letting in Illegals and caring for them.

= Make America Last

[StoneByStone]

This is how Trump gets reelected.

[Celticguy]

This is how Trump gets reelected.

Yup. Very foolish of the dems to make this happen.

[RB 60]

I hope sensible people see this for what it is, they create the crisis by saying there isn't one, then whine, and moan when the crisis they created starts to affect the illegal migrants. This is exactly what they wanted by opposing the wall! They do not care about people, power is their goal. Try helping the American Homeless before letting in Illegals and caring for them.

They did in 2016. It was one of the things Trump ran on.
Isn't it funny the Dems still can't see that and are stalling
on working on a solution to this amnesty/immigration crisis?
They'll have to figure something out because it's gonna come
back to haunt them. And they won't be using the old rant
"It's The Economy Stupid," will they?

[Getin the ring]

Your drug use is making you delusional

but he's spot on isn't he..

you're not going to win the immigration battle politically as long as you are on the side of illegals being let in unchallenged, and unvetted.
All the while bouncing back and fourth between it is a crisis, it isn't a crisis, it is a crisis, it isn't a crisis.
means you don't really care

best of luck

[Earl]

but he's spot on isn't he..

you're not going to win the immigration battle politically as long as you are on the side of illegals being let in unchallenged, and unvetted.
All the while bouncing back and fourth between it is a crisis, it isn't a crisis, it is a crisis, it isn't a crisis.
means you don't really care

best of luck

Indeed, putting illegals (non-citizens) ahead of our veterans and the security of the American people is not a winning strategy.

Four more years.

[Wolverine]

Your drug use is making you delusional

Your mother!

[katzgar]

Your mother!

she passed in 2012

[volsrock]

she passed in 2012

"It pains me to say this but he [President Trump] is right that the United States faces a crisis with its asylum system," he said. "Since 2014, the flow of asylum seekers in to the United States has skyrocketed. Last year immigration courts received 162,00 asylum claims, a 240 percent increase since 2014. The result is a staggering backlog with more than 300,000 claims pending and the average immigration case has been pending on average for more than 700 days."

"It's also clear the rules surrounding asylum are vague, lax and being gamed," he continued. "Some applicants for asylum have suspiciously similar stories, using identical phrases. Many simply use the system to enter the U.S. and then melt into the shadows or gain a work permit. Asylum is meant to be granted to a very small amount of people in extreme circumstances, not as a substitute for the process of immigration itself."


"Hundreds of millions of people who live around the world in poor, unstable regions where threats of violence abound, could easily apply for asylum. Do they all have a legal right to enter the U.S. through a back door? By passing the normal immigration process?" he asked. "The criteria for asylum need to be rewritten and substantially tightened...people should not be able to use asylum claims as a way to work in America."

CNNs Fareed Zakaria

[Adolf_Twitler]

[Gonzomin]

Trump and the Repubs see immigration as their only crack at winning the presidency. They will pound it to death. These criminals are seeking out guards to turn themselves into legal refugees. They are seeking asylum. We used to guarantee them a hearing. Now hide them and make up claims that they are scary, very scary. Rightys live in terror. Scare them and you own them.

The mistreatment of immigrants and children will also be an issue.