Republicans Feel the Heat of The Arizona Law

Reported by the New York Times, In the wake of Arizona's controversial immigration law, politicians have been forced to take a stand on the issue and although there is a consensus on the issue among Republicans in Washington the problem lies with Republican lawmakers and candidates in the states because they are, "-torn between the need to attract Latino support, especially at the ballot box, and rallying party members to support tougher action". A candidate or lawmakers decision as whether to support or oppose the Arizona law can have immediate political consequences for the politician in question. The latest example of this fact lies with Meg Whitman's declining popularity. For months Whitman enjoyed an advantage over Steve Poizner (the other Republican nomination for governor of California), however, when Poizner publicized that Whitman opposed the Arizona law Whitman saw a falling in her advantage over her rival by 23 percent. Now Whitman proclaims in her new advertisement that she is 100 percent against amnesty of illegal immigrants. As the article puts it, “State Republicans now find themselves in a balancing act, trying to seize a moment of Congressional stalemate to demonstrate leadership while not repelling voters on either side of the debate, a challenge that is particularly daunting for those in a primary fight”. That is not to say that Democrats don’t have problems with party division in the states caused by the Arizona law but the split is less pronounced than it is for Republicans who are afraid of alienating Hispanics or their main conservative base. The bottom line is, though, that it doesn’t matter whether lawmakers or candidates are Republican or Democrats, they should stick to what they truly believe and not bend to the wills of the constituents for popularity and fluctuate so much in their views.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/22/us/politics/22immig.html?hp