The Short-to-Medium Run Impact

The New York Times has an article by Zoltan Hajnal which argues something about which I have wondered. He believes Obama's actions on illegal immigration will have the effect of pushing white voters away from the Democrats and into the arms of the Republicans.

Immigration is an important issue for most Latinos and Asian-Americans. (snip) But Latinos and Asian-Americans made up only 11 percent of the electorate.

Whites, meanwhile, accounted for 75 percent of the electorate. Far more than any other group, whites will decide the fate of the parties in the years to come. Unfortunately for the Democratic Party, the data suggest that immigration very much matters for whites.

An overwhelming majority of white Americans view illegal immigration as a serious problem.

As long as whites represent a vast majority of voters and as long as most remain skeptical of immigrants, supporting immigrants’ rights will be likely to hurt the Democrats.

It could be worth your time to read the entire article.