Summary of Focus Groups

by on June 1, 2009

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Findings/Takeaways

Voters are Solution-Oriented towards Immigration:

The economy and all the other urgent problems currently facing the country have put voters into a more solution oriented frame of mind, making them receptive to comprehensive immigration reform.

When the Process for Legalization is Described, Voters are Broadly Supportive:

Participants liked that it set up an orderly process and that immigrants who go through the system are showing a commitment to becoming Americans.

Emphasize that CIR represents a common sense, middle of the road solution.
Incorporate descriptions of the orderly process of legalization, as voters find it practical
Acknowledge voters’ economic anxiety and frame CIR as part of the economic solution
Soothe voters’ cultural anxieties. Appeals to patriotism, as in the “American Solution” message and the requirement that immigrants learn English go along way toward calming cultural anxieties.
Continue to channel voter frustration at the lack of a solution into support for comprehensive reform. Voters are frustrated by a lack of control or order in the system and worried about a lack of law enforcement at the border or in work places. Comprehensive reform is a way to provide that order in a common sense, fair way.
Continue to claim and hold the ground of a “common sense” solution. Voters do not see immigration as a debate between two sides, but rather as a problem to be solved.

Conducted 2.5 hour-long focus groups on immigration: