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July 30, 2005
 California
On "Wrong Track"—But Why?
By
Joe Guzzardi
According to the results of a Field
Poll released on June 28th, 59 percent of
Californians think that the state is "seriously off
on the wrong track." Only 28 percent think that
California is headed in the right direction.
As a
native-born Californian, my first question: who is
this 28 percent who think California has a bright
future?
None of my friends, that’s for
sure.
Everyone I know is so disgusted
with life in California that they dream of
leaving.
Once considered to be the land of
milk and honey, California is now synonymous with
overcrowding,
traffic,
gangs, the high
cost of living, exorbitant taxes, the country’s
highest
gas prices,
sprawl, rotten schools,
air pollution—and, of course, illegal immigration,
which has exacerbated all of the above.
California’s good weather can only
overcome so much. Sunny days and balmy nights don’t
offset the problems created by
60 new people in the state every hour.
To me, the poll’s real surprise is
what its participants—463 randomly selected
subjects—pointed to as the reasons for California’s
decline.
When asked the open-ended question
as to why the state is performing poorly, the most
common answer was: Governor
Arnold Schwarzenegger’s failures (28 percent).
The second most popular reply: the
collective failures of
other elected officials (27 percent).
Listed seventh—shocking to
me—was "immigration,
borders not under control" (6 percent).
Of course, the June Field Poll does
translate into very bad news for Schwarzenegger’s
re-election prospects. And, to make matters worse for
the governor, his popularity has eroded even further in
July.
But more importantly to VDARE.COM
readers is what that 6 percent figure may mean for those
of us who fight to limit immigration into California.
By examining the data, a very
different, more realistic picture about immigration in
California emerges.
Six percent does not reflect
immigration’s true significance to Californians.
Consider that each of the five
categories the Field Poll ranked above "immigration,
borders not under control" as more serious
California problems is directly and negatively impacted
by immigration.
They are:
- "Schools performing poorly"
(3rd, 21 percent). Of course schools are
doing a lousy job! With 1.5 million
English language learners enrolled in the
California
K-12 public school system and more added each
day, teachers cannot possibly do their jobs
efficiently. The educational needs of
native English-speaking children fall by the
wayside as English language learners are coddled.
And non-English speakers have a tough time catching
up.
- "Not enough jobs/economy
isn’t good/wages are low" (4th; 9
percent). That’s right, too. But again, consider
illegal immigration’s role. Aliens
work off the books at a wage that Americans
wouldn’t consider. VDARE.COM’s Edwin S. Rubenstein
has analyzed in depth the
displacement of American workers by immigrants.
See his most recent piece, "Immigrant
Displacement of American Workers Hit a New High in
May." Rubenstein emphasizes that illegal
aliens don’t appear on payroll and household surveys
even though they are employed.
- "High cost of living"
(5th; 7 percent). In California, like all
other states, taxpayers support non-workers who
receive
social services. The difference is that
California has so many illegal immigrants. When you
add up the costs of underwriting education,
medical care and
incarceration to aliens, the sum is well into
the billions. When tax revenues can’t cover the
bills, the state borrows. No wonder the workingman
gripes about the cost of California living.
Proof of immigration’s deleterious
effect on California is everywhere. It’s why the
Sacramento Bee’s respected columnist
Daniel Weintraub has said that illegal immigration
"…sits
just below the surface of almost every major issue in
California, from education to health care and the
state's deteriorated infrastructure." [Recall
Election is Generating Random Acts of Politics,
August 19 2003
I asked Steve Sailer, VDARE.COM’s
in-house expert on marketing research, for his view of
why the Field Poll produced the results it did:
Said Sailer:
"The
answers all depend on what's come before the open-ended
question—the introduction the pollster gives, the
previous questions, etc. Different ways of conducting
the survey would give different answers.
Also,
lots of people don't want to bring up immigration first,
especially if the pollster might be an immigrant, and
get offended. Or people may know this poll is
associated with the
liberal LA Times, so they try to be liberal."
The best way to find out what
Americans think about immigration is to ask the question
directly.
The
Opinion Dynamics Poll for Fox News conducted the
most recent survey (April 25-26, 2005) about the effect
of illegal immigration in the U.S.
The question:
"How
serious a problem do you believe the illegal or
undocumented immigration problem is in the United States
today? Do you see it as a very serious problem, somewhat
serious, not very serious or not at all a serious
problem?"
The answer, just as we would all
predict: 91 percent of those polled think that illegal
immigration is a "serious" problem. No less than
63 percent thought it was "very serious."
Californians are way
past the point where we can be convinced through a
contrived poll that illegal immigration is a minor
issue.
The next time I’m at a gathering of
ten or more people, I’ll ask about immigration.
My money says that I’ll get the
same response that Fox News did: nine of 10 are fed up
and want immediate change.
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English at the Lodi
Adult School, has been writing a weekly newspaper column
since 1988. This column is exclusive to VDARE.COM. |
