The Democrat split on immigration

Peter Brown:

The conventional wisdom that immigration reform splits the Republican Party is correct, but less understood is that the issue does the same thing to the Democratic coalition, too.

In fact, looking below the surface, it's clear that in terms of public opinion, the socioeconomic divide is greater than the partisan one.

Part of the reason for this misconception is that the Republican intra-party fight is much more public. President Bush and many of his congressional allies are clearly split on the issue.

Since Democrats hold neither the White House nor Congress they are less in the media spotlight. And these days, with Bush's lousy poll numbers, the Democratic game plan is to keep quiet and let their political enemies hang themselves.

But a survey of voter attitudes toward various immigration proposals shows that self-identified Democratic voters have similar divisions on the issue to their GOP brethren. And the opposition of the AFL-CIO to "guest worker" legislation advocated by many Democratic leaders shows this schism.

Simply put, the split in American politics over immigration, much as it is on questions about international trade, is sharpest along socioeconomic lines.

The more educated and affluent people are, regardless of whether they are a Democrat, Republican or independent, the less they are inclined to see the need for immigration reform solely to toughen laws and beef up security.

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