Immigration and the 2016 Election

*There’s one interesting point in this article – most of it is a rehash of the same old ideas about immigration and politics. What’s interesting is buried in the 6th paragraph – specific instances that point to the reason immigration is getting so much media attention. Yes, it’s an important issue, and yes there’s been outstanding activism that has drawn attention. But in political bubbles and for the people who live in them, it’s about numbers: Wherever there’s an increase in the number of immigrants there’s also a shift in political party support. VL

By Victor Agbafe, Harvard Political Review

Most people who have been following the political climate over the past few decades will notice how increasingly polarized it has become. One of the markers of this division is the partisan divide over immigration, which has been and will continue to play a huge role in the upcoming presidential election cycle. And one of the reasons that Republicans and Democrats are so split on the issue may be their links to specific demographic groups in the American electorate that are changing their own views.

In the Republican Party, the immigration rhetoric has taken a further turn to the right due to the increase in exurban working class voters in its ranks. According to a Pew Research Center poll conducted this spring, more than 60 percent of GOP voters believe that immigrants today are more of a burden than a benefit on our society, and Tea Partiers are even more opposed towards lenient immigration policy than other Republicans. This general viewpoint is one not only espoused by immigration hardliners in the presidential campaign like Donald Trump but even by competitors like Jeb Bush, who has defended his use of the term “anchor babies” earlier this year by describing it as part of a “birth tourism … frankly more related to Asian people.”

Click HERE to read the full story (and the 6th paragraph).