In spite of Democrats concern for minority voters, they do need a lot of votes from regular Americans, and the Wall Street Journal reports that they may be losing them:
The debate over how to deal with illegal immigrants split the Republican Party two years ago, infuriating its social-conservative base and driving away Hispanic voters. It could be even more perilous for Democrats.This is a graph of a poll they took, showing that Democratic voters aren't all in favor of mass immigration:Democratic strategists believe that Hispanic voters could swing a decisive handful of states — including Florida, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Nevada — to the Democrats in 2008, ensuring the election of a Democratic president and cementing a Democratic majority for years to come. But the party's blue-collar, middle-income and African-American supporters are increasingly angry about illegal immigration, much of it Hispanic.
Democrats "are pretty jumpy on the issue," says Rep. Luis Gutierrez, an Illinois Democrat who pushed for immigration overhaul in the House. "They would prefer to allow the Republicans to shepherd the Hispanic votes into the Democratic column without having to scare away a single other voter themselves," he says.
"That's not likely to happen. "This election could turn on this issue if we don't handle it intelligently," says Connecticut Sen. Christopher Dodd, a Democratic presidential candidate. After a recent Iowa City foreign-policy speech, four of the 30 questions passed up to him from the audience were about immigration.[Immigration Is the Question, By JUNE KRONHOLZ November 19, 2007]
Remember, a large majority of the American people are in favor of reducing immigration. This includes both parties. Unfortunately, a large majority of Washington politicians are in favor of increasing immigration. This also includes both parties.
