Biased USA Today/Gallup Poll offers false choice on immigration

The March 2-4, 2007 USA Today/Gallup Poll has a question on immigration that features a false choice:

Which comes closest to your view about what government policy should be toward illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States? Should the government -- [ROTATED: deport all illegal immigrants back to their home country, allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States in order to work, but only for a limited amount of time, or allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States and become U.S. citizens, but only if they meet certain requirements over a period of time]?

According to them, 59% of respondents chose the last of the three options. Let's see if their following paragraph gives us a clue as to why this poll was designed to deceive:

Given these three options, the majority of Americans, 59%, support the government allowing illegal immigrants to remain in this country and eventually become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements. Fifteen percent of Americans support allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the country to work for a limited period of time. About one in four Americans, 24%, say all illegal immigrants should be deported back to their home countries.

There are other options, such as enforcing our current laws. Gallup simply offered the standard false choice that cheap labor supporters continually use, offering a choice between massive deportations and a massive amnesty.

Please let them know what you think: galluppoll.com/contactUs

Related:
Gallup poll: Only 25% approve of Bush's handling of immigration
January 2005 Gallup immigration poll
Gallup poll: 49% want immigration decreased
"55% oppose plan on immigrant jobs, poll shows"

Immigration2007a · Wed, 03/14/2007 - 12:31 · · Importance: 1