And while Republicans tend to favor the law and Democrats line up in opposition, polls show independents siding with the GOP. A Gallup survey taken immediately after the bill was signed found that 50 percent of independents who had heard of the law supported it, while 39 percent opposed it. The Times survey also found half of independents — 51 percent — supporting the law and 10 percent more saying it doesn’t go far enough.
Those are daunting numbers for Democrats in the South and Midwest trying to get elected to the Senate or to defend moderate-to-conservative House seats. For them, the resurrection of immigration as a political hot button is fraught with danger.
It represents yet another issue on which they’ll be forced to decide between their liberal base and national leadership, who are outraged over what they view as a draconian law, and equally angry constituents who want to crack down on illegal immigrants…
As for how Democratic candidates such as Senate hopeful Brad Ellsworth would address the issue on the campaign trail this fall, Parker said twice: “It all starts with border security.”
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