The Progressive Majority: On Immigration

by: David Brock

Mon Jun 25, 2007 at 04:00 PM CDT

In our new joint report -- "The Progressive Majority: Why a Conservative America is a Myth" -- we disprove the assumption that Americans are overwhelmingly conservative and demonstrate that, in contrast to the conventional wisdom that Americans are overwhelmingly conservative, a majority of Americans agree with progressives on issue after issue and have for decades.

One area we cover in our report is on immigration. Here are some of our key findings:

•Two-thirds of Americans feel that “on the whole” immigration is a “good thing for the country today.”

•57 percent of Americans feel “most recent immigrants to the U.S. contribute to this country” rather than “cause problems.”

•More than five times as many Americans (49 percent vs. 9 percent) believe penalizing employers is the best way to reduce illegal immigration than building more fences.

Despite the perception given by the media, Americans do hold progressive positions on immigration, among many other issues. The independent, non-partisan polling data -- gathered over the course of 20 years by sources such as American National Election Studies, the General Social Survey, and Gallup -- speaks for itself.

In our report, we examined not only the top-level conclusions, but the underlying questions asked in each of the surveys. You can click here to view our full findings, complete with supporting materials.

I urge you to let your friends, family and colleagues know about our report. We have an easy way to do that here on our website.

By spreading the word, you can help expose the myth that we live in a conservative America and show people -- by using the facts -- that you truly are among America’s progressive majority.