Republicans Feel Intensely About Immigration

Courtesy of Byron York at NRO, we see that Gallup's latest poll on immigration starts to answer the question I posed the other day: what groups of voters feel most intensely about immigration?

Gallup has the poll results here, and I don't see the partisan breakdown that York mentions. However, this is how he reports it:

But just as dramatic are the differences in who is most concerned about immigration. Thirty percent of self-identified Republicans named it the most important issue, while just 11 percent of self-identified Democrats said the same (for independents, the number was 16 percent). Twenty-five percent of people who called themselves conservatives named immigration the most important issue, versus 13 percent who called themselves liberal (for self-described moderates, the number was 18 percent).

Almost all the Republicans who feel intensely about immigration are bound to be those who favor stronger measures against illegal immigration. The fact that this group feels strongest about it is not surprising in the least, and it means that Republican candidates in general will probably have the most to gain by trying to appeal to this group, while worrying less about the others. Notwithstanding the promise of the House Republican leadership to bring a comprehensive immigration bill to the floor (ie, a bill that features earned legalization), I still bet it won't happen.