Echoing a previous broadcast, 630 KHOW-AM radio host Peter Boyles on January 17 distorted the results of an April 2006 USA Today/Gallup poll to claim that “96 percent of American people believe controlling the borders to halt the flow of illegals is the number-one domestic issue.” Boyles also omitted responses indicating a large majority of those polled favored allowing illegal immigrants to remain in the country and become U.S. citizens.

Referring to U.S. Rep. Tom Tancredo's (R-CO) recent announcement that he is considering a 2008 presidential run, Boyles stated that Tancredo, an outspoken critic of illegal immigration, “has a tremendous amount of support in this country.” Citing “the Gallup poll that was done April 7th through the 9th of last year,” Boyles then asserted:

Eighty-one percent of the American people believe illegal immigration is out of control. Ninety-six percent of American people believe controlling the borders to halt the flow of illegals is the number-one domestic issue; 60 percent think we should deny illegal immigrants access to schools and hospitals; 81 percent think we should significantly increase the number of patrol on the borders; 84 percent want to institute tougher penalties for businesses.

While it is true that 81 percent of the USA Today/Gallup poll respondents stated that “illegal immigration is out of control,” Boyles was highly misleading in citing other figures he attributed to the poll. For example, in response to Question 14, which asked, “How important is it to you that the government takes steps this year to deal with ... [c]ontrolling U.S. borders to halt the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.,” 43 percent answered "[e]xtremely important," 36 percent "[v]ery important," 17 percent "[m]oderately important," 4 percent "[n]ot that important" and 1 percent had "[n]o opinion." Boyles apparently combined the first three categories to contrive his statistic that “96 percent” of Americans consider border control the “number-one domestic issue” (43 + 36 + 17 = 96). However, the poll did not ask respondents what they considered the “number-one domestic issue” in the country:

How important is it to you that the government takes steps this year to deal with each of the following -- extremely important, very important, moderately important, or not that important? How about -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

A. Controlling U.S. borders to halt the flow of illegal immigrants into the U.S.

Extreme-
ly import-
ant

Very import-
ant

Moderate-
ly import-
ant

Not that import-
ant

No opin-
ion

2006 Apr 7-9

43

36

17

4

1

Furthermore, contrary to Boyles' characterization, the poll did not ask respondents whether “we should deny illegal immigrants access to schools and hospitals,” or “significantly increase the number of patrol on the borders,” or “institute tougher penalties for businesses.” Instead, Question 20 of the poll asked a split of the total sample -- 489 out of 1,004 people -- “How effective (emphasis added) do you think” those solutions would be in reducing illegal immigration the U.S.?:

20. How effective do you think each of the following would be as a way to reduce illegal immigration to the United States -- very effective, somewhat effective, not too effective, or not at all effective? How about -- [RANDOM ORDER]?

2006 Apr 7-9 (sorted by “very effective”)

Very effective

Total effective

Total not effective

Instituting tough penalties for businesses that employ illegal immigrants

52

84

14

Significantly increasing the number of officers patrolling U.S. borders

37

81

18

Not allowing illegal immigrants to use American schools and hospitals

30

60

37

Taking action to raise the standard of living in countries where large numbers of immigrants come from

28

67

31

Building a wall along the border with Mexico

18

48

49

Not only did Boyles mischaracterize the poll's empirical findings, he also omitted responses indicating most respondents favor giving illegal immigrants a path to citizenship. A large majority of respondents indicated they favored such a policy:

15. Which comes closest to your view about what government policy should be toward illegal immigrants currently residing in the United States? Should the government -- [ROTATED: deport all illegal immigrants back to their home country, allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States in order to work, but only for a limited amount of time, or allow illegal immigrants to remain in the United States and become U.S. citizens, but only if they meet certain requirements over a period of time]?

Deport all

Remain in the U.S. in order to work

Remain in the U.S. and become citizen

No opinion

2006 Apr 7-9

18

17

63

2

As Colorado Media Matters noted, on September 19, 2006, Boyles distorted the results of the same USA Today/Gallup poll to criticize a September 19 column by Mike Littwin of the Rocky Mountain News, who factually cited figures from the poll in asserting that most Americans agree illegal immigrants should be allowed to become U.S. citizens.

The USA Today/Gallup poll was conducted April 7-9, 2006, and was “based on telephone interviews with --1,004 -- National Adults, aged 18+.” According to the poll, “For results based on the total sample of National Adults, one can say with 95% confidence that the margin of sampling error is ±3 percentage points.”

From the January 17 broadcast of 630 KHOW-AM's The Peter Boyles Show:

BOYLES: Watch this deal. I mean, Tancredo makes this announcement. And Tancredo has a tremendous amount of support in this country. When you start to look at -- the Gallup polls -- and I -- I keep this one that was the will of the people -- it was the Gallup poll that was done April 7th through the 9th of last year. So we're coming up -- we're a couple of months away from a year ago. Eighty-one percent of the American people believe illegal immigration is out of control. Ninety-six percent of American people believe controlling the borders to halt the flow of illegals is the number-one domestic issue; 60 percent think we should deny illegal immigrants access to schools and hospitals; 81 percent think we should significantly increase the number of patrol on the borders; 84 percent want to institute tougher penalties for businesses.

Now, having said all of that, and then to watch George Bush at work -- or for that matter, Ritter, Romanoff, and Hickenlooper at work -- you keep thinking, there's going to come a moment where it's going to percolate, and maybe a guy like Tancredo -- although I don't give Tancredo much of a chance in this -- but he can -- we had, we had dinner last night; we were talking to people -- what he can do, is he can -- he can bring a plank to the party -- the Republican Party. But I don't give the Republican Party much of a shot in oh-eight simply because of the damage that George Bush has done.