Bogus Polling, Comical Spin Follow Brat Trouncing Cantor

By Joe Guzzardi
June 13, 2014

No sooner had House Majority Leader Eric Cantor conceded his Virginia primary election to upset winner Dave Brat than the pro-amnesty faction’s misinterpretation of the results began. 

Widely read Politico.com wrote that according to polling commissioned by FWD.us, the Mark Zuckerberg funded amnesty lobbying group, about 72 percent of registered voters in Cantor’s district questioned on election Tuesday said they either “strongly” or “somewhat” support immigration reform.

The poll’s questions’ actual wording asked those participating if they support or oppose the House and Senate’s immigration bills that would secure our borders, block employers from hiring “undocumented immigrants,”—its terminology for aliens—and make sure that “undocumented immigrants” already in the U.S. with no criminal record register for legal status. 

But the pollster’s questions don’t reflect what’s in the immigration bills; therefore, the deceptive conclusions. First, securing the borders is a pipe dream. If enforcement ever happens, it would be, according to the Senate’s legislation’s specific wording at least five years down the road. What would happen virtually overnight is that 12 million “aliens,” their correct description pursuant to the U.S federal code that governs immigration, would receive work authorization. The aliens would then attain legal permanent resident status which would eventually allow them to become U.S. citizens.

Senate Gang of Eight leaders Chuck Schumer and Marco Rubio have publicly and unashamedly admitted that legal status comes before enforcement, a concept which few Americans if asked directly would support. Essentially, the pollsters inquired about a bill that doesn’t exist and phrased their questions in the softest terms, e.g. “undocumented immigrants,” to elicit their desired response: Americans favor immigration reform. This is a classic example of push polling, the push being for more immigration.

Honest pollsters would ask if citizens want to nearly triple legal immigration, and give work permits to aliens previously unemployable because of their illegal immigrant status, the bill’s two most damning consequences.

At the same time that the mainstream media ballyhooed the bogus Zuckerberg polling, it also incredibly spun Brat’s win as unrelated to immigration. Reporters insisted that Cantor’s loss reflected average Americans discontent with the Washington establishment and Congress’ too cozy relationship with K Street lobbyists. Yes…but Cantor had also been pushing hard for his Kids Act, an amnesty for younger aliens that would have led to a Senate conference for a massive, all inclusive amnesty. Cantor’s lunches with the K Street crowd included corporate lobbyists promoting more foreign-born H-1B visa workers, widely popular in Silicon Valley and on Wall Street but deeply unpopular in grassroots America.

Brat campaigned on immigration as a jobs issue, an angle even his critics can’t refute. More immigration loosens the labor market, makes it tougher for unemployed Americans to get a job, and puts employed Americans at risk of losing their jobs to wage undercutting. Brat trounced Cantor by accurately representing him as anti-American worker, pro-big business and pro-cheap labor.

Lessons learned: for politicians, a winning strategy includes outlining a well-defined position that shows how excessive immigration, the failure to enforce immigration laws, and the pitfalls of the Chamber of Commerce-Congressional cronyism hurts average Americans but greatly rewards special interests.

For Americans weary from and skeptical of over-immigration: brace yourselves to fight another day. Despite consistently lousy jobs numbers, the unaccompanied minor border crisis, four decades of wage stagnation, and the third highest ranking Republican’s resounding defeat, Vice President Joe Biden told the National Association of Manufacturers’ that America needs a “constant, unrelenting stream” of new immigrants—“not dribbling [but] significant flows.”

With any luck, Biden’s disconnect from reality may portend more losses for amnesty advocates in November.

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Joe Guzzardi is a Californians for Population Stabilization Senior Writing Fellow whose columns have been nationally syndicated since 1987. Contact him at [email protected]