Poll Shows that West Virginia Voters Want Sen. Manchin to Block Funding for Obama’s Executive Amnesty
(February 24, 2015 — Washington, D.C.) - A new statewide poll of likely West Virginia voters finds that they overwhelmingly oppose President Obama’s abuse of executive power to grant amnesty to millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. West Virginians oppose the president’s plan by a 75% to 20% margin. The statewide poll of likely West Virginia voters was conducted February 20-22 by Zogby Analytics on behalf of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).
West Virginia voters also support provisions in the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding bill approved by the House of Representatives, 59% to 33%, that would restrict funds from being used to implement the president’s unlegislated amnesty programs.
Sen. Joe Manchin opposed defunding the president’s executive amnesty earlier this month, despite his previous assertions that such acts are unconstitutional. By a 47% to 37% margin, West Virginia voters want Manchin to back up his earlier opposition to the president’s amnesty programs by supporting defunding provisions in the Senate’s DHS Appropriations bill.
“Voters in West Virginia clearly believe the president has overstepped his constitutional authority and they want Congress to take decisive action to prevent him from carrying out a massive, unlegislated illegal alien amnesty program,” stated Dan Stein, president of FAIR. “They are also clearly displeased with their own senator, Joe Manchin, who has stated that he believes the president’s actions are unconstitutional, but who, nevertheless, voted against defunding those amnesty programs.
“Voters in his state want Sen. Manchin to put aside partisan politics and do what is right and what is constitutional,” concluded Stein.
Among the key findings of the poll:
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74.8% of West Virginia voters oppose granting amnesty to illegal aliens by executive action, including 59.7% who are strongly opposed.
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58.6% support provisions in the House DHS spending bill that would defund the president’s amnesty programs, including 34.8% who strongly support.
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58.5% believe Sen. Manchin should support defunding language in the Senate DHS spending bill, compared with just 33.4% who believe he should oppose such provisions.
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69% believe President Obama would not be justified in vetoing a DHS Appropriations bill that cuts off funding for his amnesty programs, compared with just 23.9% who say he would be justified.
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If an impasse on DHS funding were to occur in Congress over defunding the president’s amnesty, 47.6% would blame Senate Democrats compared with 19.1% who would hold House Republicans accountable.
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55.3% believe that implementing the president’s amnesty programs would make the country less secure, compared with 15.6% who think it would make it more secure.