So I assume that the Democrats are still pushing for “comprehensive” immigration reform with a side helping of amnesty? And there are, I am told, still a number of Republicans making noises about wanting to go along with it. Much like the gun control issues, what if the common knowledge inside the Beltway is completely wrong? What is it precisely that the average voter wants to see when it comes to the immigration question?

Rasmussen has a new poll out which a few of our elected leaders might want to take a look at before they begin drafting any bills.

Most U.S. voters think the Mexican government doesn’t do enough to stop illegal immigration and drug trafficking and favor stopping foreign aid to our southern neighbor until it does more to prevent illegal border crossings. Just 14% of Likely U.S. Voters think the Mexican government wants to stop its citizens from illegally entering the United States, according to the latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Fifty-five percent (55%) say Mexico is not interested in stopping illegal immigration. But 31% are not sure.

Even if you combine the “not sure” vote with the ones who have no problem with the way Mexico handles their part of the bargain you’re still well short of a majority. And the reason I brought up the gun control question is that it’s a parallel example of how the political chattering class is able to cherry pick a few stats out of oddly worded and complex poll samples to make it look as if they’ve got the majority behind them when the opposite is actually true.

Example: if you phrase the poll questions correctly you can easily run up some huge numbers saying that they might be in favor of expanded background checks for gun purchases. But when you drill down to the actual meat of the subject, a solid majority feel that protecting gun rights is more important than the rest of the noise. The immigration question isn’t much different. Sure, you can find a majority to answer a question saying that they’d like to see some “comprehensive immigration reform” put in place, but most of them are given no idea what that would look like.

This question digs in to where the rubber meets the road, even when it’s phrased to deal with Mexico’s responsibilities rather than our own. Given the choice, people want the flow of illegals into the country to end. And they’re willing to cut off payments to Mexico as an incentive to see it done. Math is hard, people… but it’s not that hard.