Immigration May Cease To Be A Wedge Issue, Predicts Progressive Analyst

While immigration has been a hot button issue among the American electorate for decades, the shifting demographic in the U.S., particularly with regards to race and age, may dampen the issue’s ability to draw voters to the polls.

“The demographic ground has shifted out from under the conservatives, particularly on… cultural issues,” said Ruy Teixeira, a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, during a panel discussion Tuesday.

Teixeira explained that voting blocs whom typically take a hard-line approach to immigration, such as white working-class voters, are diminishing. Meanwhile, segments of society who hold a more lenient attitude toward immigration are growing more prominent.

“There’s been an increase in white college graduate voters who are much more progressive than white, working class voters,” Teixeira said. “Among minority voters, who are much more progressive in general, there has been an 11%…increase in representation [since 1988].”

Teixeira added that the growing number of secular Americans, whom Teixeira claims are generally left-leaning, will also tilt the demographic.

“By the year 2040 only about…a third of the population will be white Christians and only about a third of that will be conservative,” Teixeira predicted. “The front line troops in the culture wars have been conservative white Christians. We’re looking down a road where they’ll only be 12-13% of the population.”