Balking at Arizona's tough immigration-enforcement law, Florida Democrats appear out of step with national sentiment while Republicans wholeheartedly support the measure, a new Sunshine State News Poll reports.
The survey showed 90 percent of Florida Republicans support the law compared with 43 percent of Florida Democrats.
National polls have registered consistent support for Arizona's get-tough approach, with a July 12 Christian Science Monitor/TIPP poll showing 51-35 in favor of the law.
"Its clear Republicans are much more supportive of a crackdown, and share the publics sentiments on this issue since these results mirror national polling which shows a majority of Americans favor an Arizona-style law," said Jim Lee, president of Voter Survey Service, which conducted the poll for Sunshine State News.
"These results also validate our recent polling at the state legislative and county level in Florida where many Republicans say cracking down on illegal immigration should be a top priority even for lawmakers in Tallahassee," Lee said.
Sentiment in favor of tougher border and workplace controls appears to be running strong from coast to coast. When a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC poll asked, "When it comes to dealing with immigration, which party do you think would do a better job?" 32 percent of respondents said the Republican Party and 27 percent cited the Democratic Party.
Those results reversed the poll's January 2008 findings, which showed 29 percent favoring Democrats and 25 percent backing Republicans.
Lee said the immigration issue could to be a two-edged sword for the parties.
"The irony is that although immigration reform is an issue that rallies the GOP base, in the long-term many believe it will cost the Republican Party dearly in terms of its ability to appeal to Hispanics and other growing minorities," Lee said.
"Democrats, on the other hand, are divided, which shows many have reservations about the impact this kind of issue could have on the economy or the labor force.
"Democrats could also be more reticent to support an Arizona-style law given the media attention on whether or not this type of law violates ones civil rights," Lee opined.
While the Obama administration has challenged the Arizona law in court, Republicans and independents favor more robust enforcement of immigrations laws -- making the issue a potential loser for Democrats in November.
With just 7 percent of the state's Republicans and fewer than half of Florida Democrats (48 percent) opposing the Arizona law, the administration's position is far from popular here.
The immigration debate has fueled the Florida governor's race, as Republicans Rick Scott and Bill McCollum joust over who would be tougher on the issue.
Scott embraced the Arizona law early in his campaign. After initially suggesting that Florida did not need such a law, Attorney General McCollum flipped and proposed similar legislation.
His measure, introduced with state Rep. Bill Snyder, R-Stuart, would authorize Florida law enforcement agents to inquire about the immigration status of people they have a "reasonable suspicion" of being in the country illegally.
In addition to requiring detention of illegal immigrants, the bill directs Florida judges to increase the sentences of illegal aliens found guilty of crimes by 50 percent over usual prescribed sentences.
Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink, on her English and Spanish campaign websites, declared her "opposition to Arizona's discriminatory immigration law" back on May 21.
VSS, an independent polling company which is a division of Susquehanna (Pa.) Polling & Research, questioned 1,000 likely Democratic and 1,000 likely Republican voters across Florida Aug. 9-12 and Aug. 12-15. The poll's margin of error is 3.1 percent at the 95 percent confidence level.
Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 801-5341.
