Poll Shows Support For Arizona-Type Immigration Law
By Mike Bowersock
NBC NEWS
Published: June 29, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio
A new poll of voters shows support for an Arizona-style immigration crackdown in Ohio.
In the survey released Tuesday by Quinnipiac University, 48 percent of Ohio voters say they approve of Arizona's tough new immigration law. It requires police to question a person's immigration status if there's reason to suspect the person is in the country illegally.
Twenty-eight percent say they disapprove.
Tuesday night, at the Berligner Park softball diamonds, nearly everyone we spoke to agreed with tougher immigration.
If the feelings here are any indication, the Quinnipiac poll is accurate.
“If you have a green card, the law can follow you around, they can keep tabs on everything, they can also keep people from working under the table and taking jobs away from other people,” Tony Martinez said.
“Some of them are going back to other states. Some of them are going back to Mexico,” said Alex Flores who runs La Voz Hispana, an Hispanic newspaper based on the west side of Columbus.
He says the Mexican population in Central Ohio is already shrinking.
He claims there are approximately 80,000 Hispanics living in Central Ohio but it's down about 20 percent from a year ago.
“The lack of jobs would be the No. 1 reason. The fact that the state of Ohio is not renewing their license plates for their cars that would be the second main reason.”
Ohio is requiring drivers to prove residency in order to renew a license plate.
He also says such legislation in Ohio would make it shrink more, but he claims that would have a negative impact on the Central Ohio economy because of fewer people spending their money here.
The Quinnipiac survey of 1,107 registered Ohio voters was taken June 22-27.
It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.
