One target has been "America's Toughest Sherriff" Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona. Both the Justice Department and Congress have announced they will investigate him for civil-rights violations. Sherriff Joe is famous for providing inmates with traditional prison stripes and housing them in low-cost tents to save the taxpayer's money.
However, a recent Rasmussen poll shows that Arizonans strongly support Arpaio's efforts against immigration anarchy.
Sixty-eight percent (68%) of Arizona voters have a favorable view of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, whose aggressive enforcement of laws against illegal immigration have triggered an investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Forty-six percent (46%) view the sheriff very favorably.By way of comparison, job approval of Congress is currently polling at 30 percent. The same CBS survey (taken before Nancy Pelosi's pro-amnesty church chat) found the Speaker had an 18 percent favorability rating. Plus, 35 percent viewed her unfavorably, nearly twice her positive number. (Forty-seven percent were in the "Don't Know" category — lucky them.)Just 26% have an unfavorable opinion of Arpaio, including 16% who are very unfavorable, according to a new Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of Arizona voters. Seven percent (7%) are not sure.
Arizona voters also strongly approve of some of the tactics the sheriff employs to fight illegal immigration and crime related to it.
Seventy-four percent (74%), for example, believe that when a police officer pulls someone over for a traffic violation, they should automatically check to see if that person is in the country legally. Twenty-one percent (21%) disagree. These numbers are virtually identical to national findings on the same question.
Sixty-three percent (63%) say that if law enforcement officers know of places where immigrants gather to find work, they should sometimes conduct surprise raids to identify and deport illegal immigrants. Thirty-one percent (31%) oppose those raids. Voters nationally are a bit more supportive of this tactic to fight illegal immigration.
Instead of attacking Sheriff Arpaio in a political witch hunt, the Democrats would be better off to emulate his policies in order to become more respected among voters.
Right, that'll happen.