Colorado Progressive

Spencer Hsu of The Washington Post has a tidy little article today detailing the rift among police communities over Arizona’s tough new immigration law. Chiefs of police from Los Angeles to Philadelphia–including three from Arizona towns Phoenix, Tucson, and Sahuarita–offer a dissenting view in the face of wide public opinion in favor of the law.*

A group of engaged police chiefs will meet with Attorney General Eric Holder to discuss the law. They’ll likely point to achievements among minority communities in recent years as a chief casualty in nationwide fallout from Arizona’s move.

In 2006, the Major Cities Chiefs Association — which represents 56 U.S. cities — unanimously warned that putting “local police in the crosshairs” of the national immigration debate would undo the success of community policing efforts in recent decades, said San Jose Police Chief Robert L. “Rob” Davis, association president and part of the group meeting Holder.

While Denver is not mentioned in the article, the city has its own stake in the issue. Both major candidates running for governor have come out, on partisan lines, for and against enacting similar legislation in Colorado. This issue, of course, will come into play in Colorado as candidates vie for breakout positions in a close political race.

*AFP, the wire agency behind the Yahoo! News link, does not provide direct survey reporting to support the claim. I’ve got the write-up for you here, and here are Pew’s actual survey questions (.pdf). Additionally, other polls from the same timeframe reveal significant concerns about the quality and depth questions. Gallup took heat for an April poll that asked “Based on what you know or have read about the new Arizona immigration law, do you favor or oppose it?” Media Matters points out:

Gallup polled adults nationally about a law that only applies to one state and that, at the time of the survey, had only really been in the national news for a few days, and assumed people who had “heard” of the new law knew what the law was about? That strikes me as odd.

Indeed, the Gallup poll comes with a disclaimer: “Note that the poll did not attempt to measure actual knowledge about the law or describe the various provisions of the law to respondents.”

Such a poll could be regarded as a measure of media coverage more than a measure of public temperature for Arizona’s specific approach to immigration reform. To be sure, a closer read of the actual Gallup report supports the notion of reading the poll results as an indicator of general awareness that, unscientifically, gets tied to favorability. Heres Gallup’s “Bottom Line”: “Most Americans have heard about Arizona’s tough new immigration law, and they generally support it.”

To be fair, the Pew poll cited provided respondents with more information about the law before asking as to favorability. But it’s worth pointing out that by the time Pew called its 994 survey participants (May 6-12), the Gallup poll had already been released to the media (April 29) and widely broadcast, which arguably may have had an influential effect on the answers.