The Center for Immigration Studies has analyzed a new Zogby poll that appears to indicate that when religious leaders advocate for amnesty and more immigration they are doing so against the wishes of their parishoners. Check it out here.
In contrast to many national religious leaders who are lobbying for increases in immigration numbers, a new Zogby poll of likely voters who belong to the same religious communities finds strong support for reducing overall immigration. Moreover, the poll finds that members strongly disagree with their leaders’ contention that more immigrant workers need to be allowed into the country.
Also, most parishioners and congregants advocate for more enforcement to cause illegal workers to go home, while most religious leaders are calling for putting illegal immigrants on a path to U.S. citizenship.
The survey of Catholic, mainline Protestant, born-again Protestant, and Jewish voters used neutral language and was one of the largest polls on immigration ever done.
We reported a related story a few months back when the National Association of Evangelicals testified for amnesty but had backtracking to do when some of its member groups disavowed the testimony—-in other words, when the parishoners and members got wind of what their leaders were up to.