Skewing the polls on immigration

A new year, a new Congress, and a new presidential administration but the same perennial debate about illegal immigration. And with it comes countless polls that suggest solutions to the problem.

Americans should be wary of public opinion polls that conclude a large proportion of voters favor amnesty for the 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Numerous polls ask loaded questions skewed to obtain the desired results. And the liberal media, which supports amnesty, is more than happy to promote biased polls that portray the public as believing that amnesty is in the best interests of America. So how are Americans misled by these slanted polls?

First, a number of the opinion surveys use samples and methods that do not accurately reflect Americans’ views.

Polls that are conducted disproportionately on either landline telephones or cellular phones exclude major demographic groups of individuals. Americans under 30 years of age are more than three times as likely to rely exclusively on cell phones for communication as individuals over the age of 65. Some surveys do not contact a representative number of respondents. Also, some polls contact a disproportional number of Democrats who are more likely to favor amnesty.

Second, samples often include noncitizens, such as illegal immigrants. This introduces a significant bias when analyzing public policy since they can be expected to support amnesty. So their participation means the poll would misrepresent the will of the American people.