Republican candidates throughout the United States have scaled up efforts to address immigration in their campaign platforms and messaging amid growing concerns over immigration. A recent Gallup Poll found that immigration now trumps concerns about healthcare and the country’s deficit among Republican voters.
Representative Scott Perry, a first-term Republican congressman from Pennsylvania, attributed this growing concern to the border crisis and said, “I think people are very upset, and people have really been awakened to the immigration issue where they haven’t been before.” The congressman continued, “Right now at this current time, I would say immigration is the No. 1 issue on people’s minds.”
In the face of Republican inaction on the issue, President Obama continues to weigh his options for executive actions that could potentially expand protections against deportations and grant work permits. How the issue will affect the outcome of highly-contested races throughout the country remains to be seen, but immigration has undoubtedly become a pivotal issue that has galvanized voters on both sides of the issue. The electoral implications of the issue are projected to extend well beyond the November elections. During the 2016 presidential election Latinos and their formidable electoral presence will likely hold candidates accountable for their stance on immigration.
Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairman, Representative Steve Israel said, “The problem that Republicans have right now is that they have engineered a strategy to turn out their base voters in a midterm election and that may backfire against them as their base voters demand that House Republicans keep going farther and farther to the right.”
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