A new Gallup poll shows that old white people feel the GOP is representing them well on immigration, but nobody else does.
I think this kind of polling that has no issue content whatsoever is pretty useful. Most people don’t have strongly held and clearly articulated views on most issues. They care about and know about a few things, and rely on broad cues for the rest. And what we’re seeing here is basically that the existence of an immigration debate is not particularly favorable for Republicans. On the other hand, this conservative-leadning cohort of older whites is precisely the group whose relative voting weight surges in midterms since older whites have a very praiseworthy tendency to vote ever two years rather than every four. So while Republicans would be smart on one level to try to get something done here and not be talking about this in the years to come, they’re on reasonably solid ground in the short-term if they want to scuttle the Gang of 8 bill.
