A CBS News/New York Times poll confirms what other polling organizations have already reported. The majority of Americans favor Arizona's new immigration law, despite loud, unruly and violent protests from the minority on this issue.
51 percent think the law is about right while 9 percent believes it does not go far enough in protesting Arizona from unauthorized and illegal access to our country, totaling 60 percent in favor of the tough law and/or making it tougher.
Only 36 percent thinks the law goes too far.
Two in three Republicans say the law takes the right approach, along with roughly half of independents. Among Democrats, support for the law stands at 38 percent. Americans living in the South and Midwest are more likely than those in the East or West to support the measure.
One in two Americans say it is "very likely" that the law "will lead to police officers detaining people of certain racial or ethnic groups more frequently than other racial or ethnic groups." Another 32 percent say that prospect is "somewhat likely." Just 15 percent do not expect some racial or ethnic groups to be affected more than others.
Interestingly enough, the percentage of Americans who think illegal immigration is a "very serious problem" has risen by 5 points in the last two years.
78 percent believes the US Government should be doing more to stop illegal immigration.
You can find the complete poll here.(PDF format)
[Update] Hot Air points to yet another poll with similar numbers:
Another new poll, from Bellwether Research, shows 62 percent support for Arizona’s law even though the question overstates how far the statute goes (it doesn’t let cops detain “anyone suspected of being in the country illegally,” only those who have already been detained on suspicion of committing a crime). Given the breadth and depth of media demagoguery on this subject, I can only wonder how high support would be if ill-informed critics weren’t on cable 24/7 screeching about nascent Nazism. 70 percent, maybe? Better yet, how high would support be if the media was covering amnesty-shill violence with the same degree of interest as they do the crank element at tea-party rallies? Mary Katharine Ham has a round-up of incidents over the past week, but if you’re not in the mood for following links, I recommended checking out KFI’s photo gallery of the choicest signs from the rallies instead. My favorite: “We will shoot more police in Arizona until we get free!”
Emphasis there mine because it is important to understand, and had most actually read the law instead of letting the media tell them what to think, there would be less misunderstanding of that very important fact.
To reiterate- Authorities will have to have a legal reason to stop, and/or detain people prior to being able to ask for documentation to prove there presence is legal in the US.
Requires a reasonable attempt to be made to determine the immigration status of a person during any legitimate contact made by an official or agency of the state or a county, city, town or political subdivision (political subdivision) if reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the U.S.
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