Immigration Not Top Voter Concern and That's OK

On Tuesday, local and state elections were held across the United States. The good news is that in most cases, the issue of immigration slipped into the background — and that's a good thing, because the topic of immigration, when used in an election, is almost always negative.

One of the places politicians and strategists were watching closely was the state of Virginia. The Virginia counties of Prince William and Loudoun were the first in the entire country to pass local measures that deny all services to people who can’t prove their legal status and to make direct use of local police as virtual immigration agents.

It seems that the candidates - Republicans and also some Democrats in conservative districts - thought undocumented immigration would be the major concern of voters who went to the polls this week. They thought the same thing in 2006, and in both cases they were wrong.

Other topics were at the forefront of voters’ minds in both elections: transportation and the economy were their main concerns when it came to voting and, with few exceptions, this trend did not benefit those who campaigned vociferously against the undocumented. Rather it seems to have benefited those who took a more moderate stance on the issue and offered solutions to other concerns that were more pressing to voters.

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