immgration
Gov. Greg Abbott wrote federal officials to opt Texas out of the refugee resettlement program. Photo by Miguel Gutierrez Jr./The Texas Tribune
The Texas Conference of Catholic Bishops’ statement calling Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s decision to opt out of the federal refugee resettlement program “deeply discouraging and disheartening” brings renewed attention to what has been called a “balancing act between [his] Catholic faith and politics.” Public opinion data suggest Abbott’s position will land very differently with Republican Catholics than it did with the church leaders who were moved to publicly dissent from his decision.
A new Pew Research Center poll found fewer than half of Americans are very or fairly closely following the immigration debate. 38 percent have no opinion on the Senate mesaure recently intoduced by the "Gang of Eight." The lack of public engagement allows for both opponents and supporters to sway public opinion. The Washington Post reports:
A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll showed that nearly all of the big individual aspects of the “Gang of Eight” bill won majority support, a sign that proponents can have the potential for success in selling their measure. But given that most people 1) aren’t familiar with bill right now and 2) haven’t made up their minds about it as a package, there remains ample opportunity for opponents to strike.
Read more here.