Imagine that: Americans don’t support granting illegal aliens benefits that citizens can’t get.

A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that only 22% of voters support the proposal introduced by Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL). The Dream Act would have given legal status to children of illegal aliens who complete two years of college or military service. That low level of support is very similar to support for the “comprehensive” reform measure that failed in June.

Fifty-nine percent (59%) of all voters oppose the Dream Act concept. Republicans oppose it by a 5-to-1 margin and unaffiliateds are opposed by a 3-to-1 margin. Democrats are a bit more evenly divided—49% opposed and 31% in favor—but Nancy Pelosi’s party certainly doesn’t provide a base of support for the Dream Act.

It would have also granted in-state tuition rates to illegals, a benefit that a citizen who lives in, say, Pennsylvania, can’t get at a Maryland university.

And 59% opposes…? That’s an awful lot of nativists and racists to contend with. Better crank the smear machine up to 11. Or, you know, just realize that most Americans understand the difference between legal and illegal immigrants, and act accordingly.

Fueling opposition is a concern that passage of the bill would encourage more illegal immigration in the future. The view is held by 68% of the nation’s voters. The Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 15% disagree and 17% are not sure. Seventy-six percent (76%) of Republicans, 76% of unaffiliated voters, and 55% of Democrats believe that passage of the Dream Act would encourage more illegal immigration in the future.

So a majority of Democrats are in the “nativist” camp. Who knew?

I’m not sure which is more shocking: That so many open borders pundits blithely smear a majority of Americans who disagree with them, or that Congress actually responded to the majority’s wishes for a change.