by Felicia Persaud
By the time you read this column, the Nov. 8th midterm elections will be over, but the madness will not. This is especially true when it comes to what issues will take center stage come January, when the new congress will be sworn in.
Regardless of who wins or loses, it is now crystal clear that immigration will be far down the totem pole for any party. It will of course be worse if the predictions are correct and the right, by scare tactics and voter suppression, manages to take back dictatorial control of the House and Senate.
That will usher in the start of the lame duck session of the Joe Biden administration, leaving immigrants further screwed and Biden leaning more on administrative policy changes that will be undoubtedly challenged in the courts by Republicans across the country.
No need to look into my crystal ball right now. A Washington Post and ABC polling prior to the elections that found immigration ranking dead last on voters list of top priorities tells me all I need to know.
The top issues of concern for voters, according to the Washington Post/ABC poll, are the economy, abortion, inflation, threats to democracy, education and schools, crime, and climate change. Immigration came in at ninth on the Top 9 list and garnered just 9% when it came to voters who thought this was important.
The Pew Research Center survey reported an even worst ranking for immigration. On its list of Top 18 issues, immigration ranked at a lowly 11. In the Pew survey, the top issue was also the economy followed by the future of democracy in the country, education, health care, energy policy, violent crime, policies about how elections and voting work in the country, gun policy, abortion and Supreme Court appointments. Immigration came in at 11th.
Even Latino voters did not seem as concerned by the issue according to Pew. According to the Pew Research Center, the economy also remains the top issue ahead of midterms for Latino voters polled, followed by health care, education, violent crime and gun policy. Immigration came in ninth.
This is an interesting shift as politicians often make it the singular issue to attract and potentially sway Latino voters.
It’s showing again that all politics is local, and voters will always be more concerned about the issue that affects their bottom line and pocketbooks.
Even if Democrats manage to pull off a Hail Mary and hold on to the House and the Senate, their list of priorities will be changed per voter demand, and they will undoubtedly again kick immigration further down the road. If Republicans win, that will be even worse as their main priority will be returning to building the Trumpeto wall and stemming what they feel is the Biden open border policy.
This is bad news for all immigrants, but most especially for DREAMERs, immigrants here on TPS, (Temporary Protected Status), as well as those seeking asylum or wishing to be allowed in for asylum.
So much for change we can believe in. Thanks Joe and Kamala—for nothing! (AmsterdamNews)
