If you’ve watched a television show or a movie or listened to a podcast or a radio show in recent months in Pennsylvania, you’ve probably seen and/or heard one political ad after another ahead of this year’s election.
While many of these ads are focused on the economy –most voters say that the economy is their most important issue– two other common themes are immigration and public safety. When it comes to immigration and public safety, though, politicians running for office tend to get it all wrong no matter if they are a Democrat or a Republican.
The ACLU of Pennsylvania commissioned public polling earlier this year to see where Pennsylvania voters fall on immigration and public safety. Our pollsters contacted 600 likely voters from across the commonwealth for a text-to-web poll and ran three days of focus groups with a smaller number of likely voters.
The results of that polling show that Pennsylvania voters want solutions-based policies on immigration and public safety. What they do not want is the punitive, harsh policies of years past.
Our polling shows that, when candidates are in a head-to-head match up, voters prefer a candidate who embraces solutions on these issues over a candidate who runs the same tired playbook of more punishment and more deportations. This is true for both Democrats and Republicans. However, our polling also indicated that when both candidates use messages that focus on punishments instead of solutions, the Republican candidate nearly always comes out on top.
The key to running a winning campaign in Pennsylvania, then, is to meet voters where they are on immigration and public safety and focus on solutions. Let’s talk about what that looks like.
On immigration, voters overwhelmingly support a path to citizenship for undocumented people and DREAMers. But they also recognize the challenges at the border and want a better system for processing asylum seekers. Most voters agree that our immigration system is broken and expensive. But they want solutions to bring immigrants out of the shadows and allow them to fully contribute to their communities as new Americans.
On public safety, voters want to see investments in the programs and services that address crime at its root causes. They want jobs training and more affordable housing. They want youth enrichment programs and better treatment for mental health services and substance use disorder. What they don’t want is more police and more jails and prisons.
The bottom line is that any candidate that rejects the failed, punitive policies that have dominated our political discourse for decades will do better. The vast majority of voters have moved on from scare tactics and rhetoric that is meant to divide instead of unite us.
It’s not just Pennsylvania. ACLU polling in other battleground states shows that the voters who will decide the next presidential election want solutions.
The voters have spoken. Now it’s up to the politicians who hope to win their votes to listen and take action.
