Rasmussen Reports, May 31, 2011

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A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 61% of Likely U.S. Voters favor a law in their state that would shut down companies that knowingly and repeatedly hire illegal immigrants. Just 21% oppose such a law, and another 18% are undecided.

Eighty-two percent (82%) think businesses should be required to use the federal government’s E-Verify system to determine if a potential employee is in the country legally. Twelve percent (12%) disagree and oppose such a requirement.

Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters also feel that landlords should be required to check and make sure a potential renter is in the country legally before renting them an apartment. Twenty-eight percent (28%) do not believe landlords should be required to make such checks.

Separate recent polling shows that two-out-of-three voters (66%) favor strict government sanctions against employees who hire illegal immigrants, while 51% support sanctions against those who rent or sell property to those who are in this country illegally. This is consistent with surveys for years.

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Sixty-seven percent (67%) of voters think a state should have the right to enforce immigration laws if it believes the federal government is not enforcing them. Yet while most voters continue to feel the federal government’s policies encourage illegal immigration, they remain closely divided over whether it’s better to let the federal government or individual states enforce immigration laws.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce joined with the Obama administration in the unsuccessful Supreme Court challenge of Arizona’s employer sanctions law. But then 68% of voters believe that government and big business work together against the interests of consumers and investors. That view is shared across partisan, demographic and ideological lines.

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Fifty-nine percent (59%) of all voters favor a cutoff of federal funds to so-called sanctuary cities, but only 29% think Congress is even somewhat likely to agree to cut off funds to cities that provide sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

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But voters are more pessimistic than ever about the possibility of stopping illegal immigration for good in the United States.

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