Poll Watch: What We Say vs. What They Do

Now that the Senate is trying to solve our DACA problem by holding open debate on immigration, I thought it would be fun to remind everyone what Americans think about the issue.

Let's take a look at a recent Fox News poll, taken via land line and cell phones in January; randomly chosen registered voters were asked to participate.

When asked whether they favored or opposed allowing illegal immigrants under age 30 who were brought here as kids to legally stay in the country, provided they pass a background check, survey respondents overwhelmingly favor this  - 71% to 20%.

Similarly, last fall we had strong favorable opinions of this population - -the Dreamers - when Fox asked us what we thought:

• 86% favored granting work permits to this population, provided they pass a background check
• 79% favored granting citizenship to this population, provided they pass a background check

One of the pillars of president Trump's immigration plan is that we have a great big beautiful transparent border wall to keep out the bad guys. Is that a pillar that America also believes in?

Historically, no. Only 40% favor this in the current poll; 39% did so in August 2017; 41% in September 2016, and 50% in November of 2015.

Illegal immigration ranked 11th out of 12 issues, with only 64% expressing concern. Here's what scored higher:

• health care - 82%
• political divisions in the country - 74%
• the opioid crisis - 72%
• infrastructure and the economy - 71% each
• war with North Korea  and race relations - 70%
• taxes - 68%
• Islamic terrorist attacks and sexual harassment in the US - 65%

Scoring lower? Climate change, at 57%.

Time will tell whether Congress pays attention to what we think, or if they're merely going to pay attention to what the guy at the other end of Pennsylvania Ave thinks. One can only hope...

Two other fun things in this poll? 59% of respondents favor legalizing marijuana, and 58% are at least somewhat pro choice (46% yes, 12% some or a mix).  These, too, are things where Americans seem to stand in one place and the administration stands in another.