A piece of conventional wisdom in progressive organizing is that there's a growing rift in the Democractic coalition between African Americans and Latinos. Working class blacks, the thinking goes, see lower-skilled immigrants as job competition, and thus are more likely to support anti-immigration policies. But a new Pew report on racial attitudes in America turns that idea on its head. According to a survey of 3,000 people, blacks are actually one of the least anti-immigrant demographics in the nation: 28 percent of blacks see immigration as a problem, compared to 30 percent of whites and 44 percent of Hispanics. Pew reports, "On the issue of immigration, blacks and whites agree that most immigrants work harder than most blacks and most whites at low-wage jobs." And African Americans are actually become more pro-immigration over time.Two decades ago, three-quarters of blacks said they would have better access to jobs if there were fewer immigrants; today less than half feel that way. What this suggests is that the "swing" voters who are telling pollsters they're very concerned about illegal immigration are in a minority that makes up well less than one-third of the population. And those voters, while they describe themselves as "independent," lean right and were probably never very likely to vote Democratic. Rabid anti-immigration sentiment just isn't as mainstream as we've been led to believe. --Dana Goldstein
