Kathy Kiely/USA Today, hacks mislead about Gallup immigration poll

Various hacks (Oliver Willis [1], David Weigel [2], etc. [3]) were discussing the USA Today article "Public favors giving illegal immigrants a break" from Kathy Kiely a couple days ago. The Gallup poll wasn't available on their site at the time, a sure caution sign. While - somewhat to his credit - at least Weigel admitted that he hadn't seen the actual poll and there could be problems with it, all the hacks used the poll to support their pro-illegal immigration positions. They bought what USA Today was selling:

While Congress and the White House remain divided over what to do with the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants living in the USA, a new poll shows the American public appears to have reached a consensus on the question.

A USA TODAY/Gallup Poll taken last weekend found that 78% of respondents feel people now in the country illegally should be given a chance at citizenship.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who is drafting legislation to grant illegal immigrants an opportunity to stay in the USA, said: "As with so many issues, the American people are ahead of Washington on immigration reform. They know that only a plan that offers a path to earned citizenship will fix our broken system."

Now, Gallup has finally put the poll in question on their website here. It appears that they only asked three questions for this poll, the ones marked "2007 Apr 13-15". The first deals with skilled vs. chain legal immigration, and the other deals with whether the U.S. has made progress in dealing with illegal immigration. The relevant question was this:

Now thinking about immigrants who come to the United States illegally, which comes closest to your view about what the government policy should be toward illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States? Should the government --

14%: "require illegal immigrants to leave the U.S. and not allow them to return"

6%: "require illegal immigrants to leave the U.S., but allow them to return temporarily to work"

42%: "require illegal immigrants to leave the U.S., but allow them to return and become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time"

36%: "allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States and become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements over a period of time"

2%: No opinion

Adding 42 and 36 I come up with 78, so that's presumably the question they were refering to. I note that 62% (14+6+42) want illegal aliens to leave the U.S., at least temporarily. I guess that number was outweighed by the 78 number.

I note also that many's the slip twixt leaving the U.S. and meeting all the conditions to come back, but apparently that minor issue got ignored in USA Today's rush to support a massive amnesty. And, the fact that a majority of the 78% want illegal aliens to leave the U.S. first and only come back "if they meet certain requirements over a period of time" just seems to have been lost in the rush.

[1] oliverwillis.com/2007/04/conservatives_o.html
[2] reason.com/blog/show/119745.html
[3] thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10565.html
thinkprogress.org/2007/04/19/thinkfast-april-19-2007

Immigration2007a · Fri, 04/20/2007 - 09:27 · · Importance: 1