Poll Finds Va. Focused On Illegal Immigrants

Although 58 percent of Republicans and 55 percent of independents want much more local action on illegal immigration, fewer Democrats, 43 percent, do. And almost three-quarters of Republicans are more likely to support a candidate who wants strong action against illegal immigrants, nearly double the percentage among Democrats.

"Republicans would do a better job," said Pat Holub, 42, who is in the Navy and lives in Springfield. "Liberals have a tendency to want to do everything for everybody."

Nearly a third of likely voters who live north of the Rappahannock River said immigration was one of the top two issues in the state, and 77 percent said illegal immigration was a problem in their communities; 37 percent called it a very serious problem.

Those numbers surged higher in Prince William, where half of all residents called immigration the most or second-most important issue facing the state and a majority classified illegal immigration as a very serious local problem.

Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a group that advocates limits on immigration and penalties for illegal immigrants, called the poll results surprising because immigration has not been an issue taken on by a statewide leader in Virginia as it has in some states.

Beck attributed some of the interest to increased attention to immigration by the media and to the enormous alterations in the state's landscape.

"People across Virginia, especially in Northern Virginia, they are witnessing a rapid change," he said.

The poll was conducted by telephone Oct. 4 through 8 among a random sample of 1,144 Virginia adults, including additional interviews with randomly selected residents of Loudoun and Prince William counties. The results from the full poll have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus three percentage points; it is larger among subgroups.

Polling analyst Jennifer Agiesta and staff writer Bill Turque contributed to this report.