COMING TO AMERICA

Et Cetera

THE 60 MINUTES/VANITY FAIR POLL

This poll was conducted on behalf of CBS News by SSRS of Media, Pennsylvania, among a random sample of 1,000 adults nationwide, interviewed by telephone January 8-12, 2016. Some low-percentage answer choices have been omitted.

With a certain blowhaid fanning the flames, the debate over immigration has gotten testy. Unlike Europeans, who are now confronting a combustible immigration crisis, Americans cherish romantic notions of "huddled masses yearning to breathe free." That said, there's also fear and suspicion. A plurality see illegal immigrants costing the country "more than they contribute."

Most agree that immigrants are coming mainly for jobs— not fleeing persecution or drawn in by Obamacare. As for what their "quintessentially American" first stop should be: the National Mall, in Washington, D.C. Times Square was a close second, though we can't imagine why.

Some—overwhelmingly Republican—want to require all Muslim immigrants to register as Muslim. (Too bad about the First Amendment!) Americans are also unaware that the French designer of the Statue of Liberty used a Muslim peasant woman in imagining his concept. Does that mean she'll need a green card, too?

As for Obama, half of all Republicans say he was bom in another country. Maybe the good news, even from this perspective, is that he took a job that no sane American would want.

@vf.com See the complete POLL RESULTS. GotoVF.COM/ MARCH20I6.