Oklahoma Poll
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January 31, 2011
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Bill Shapard

Tulsa World: Strict immigration measures retain solid support

By RANDY KREHBIEL World Staff Writer

Oklahomans remain gung-ho for "Arizona-style" immigration reform but don't appear to be quite as enthusiastic about it as they were six months ago, according to the most recent Oklahoma Poll.

Sixty percent of those surveyed this month said they "strongly favor" a similar law in Oklahoma, and an additional 16 percent "somewhat favor" it.

Even those figures, however, are down slightly from the results in July, when 65 percent strongly favored such legislation and 14 percent favored it somewhat.

"We've got to control our borders," said one poll respondent, Robert McFarland of Sand Springs. "If you don't control your borders, you don't control your country. There's a process, and we should insist that process be followed. It's a simple, simple thing that's gotten so political. I don't know why it's even debatable."

Most Oklahomans seem to agree, even though the state of Oklahoma has no control over U.S. borders or people entering the country, legally or illegally.

The Legislature, however, is trying to limit who lives in the state. At least a dozen measures purportedly intended to discourage illegal immigrants from living in Oklahoma have been filed in advance of the legislative session that begins Feb. 7.

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Bill Shapard
About the Author

Bill Shapard

Bill is the founder of SoonerPoll.com and ShapardResearch, a full service market research firm based in Oklahoma City. Bill began his career in polling after working on major campaigns for both Republicans and Democrats in Oklahoma from 1996 until founding SoonerPoll in 2004.