Zuckerberg's immigration reform group targets Trump policies
A report from FWD.us, the lobby group backed by Facebook's CEO, shows critical swing states have unfavorable views of the presumptive Republican nominee's immigration platform.
Three critical swing states apparently have a bone to pick with Donald Trump and his take on immigration policy.
A strong majority of voters from Colorado, Florida and Nevada oppose the presumptive Republican presidential nominee's platform on immigration, according to a survey of 600 bipartisan voters conducted by FWD.us, the lobby group backed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
The survey of the three states, all of which boast large Hispanic populations, found that 69 percent of voters oppose Trump's plan to round up and deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants who live in the US. Some 49 percent of those surveyed "strongly" oppose the plan.
FWD.us, a political action group founded in 2013 by 15 entrepreneurs, actively pushes for immigration reform to keep talented foreign-born coders and entrepreneurs in the country.
The poll results, released ahead of the Monday start to the Republican National Convention, are the latest challenge from the tech community of Trump and his policies. On Thursday, 145 tech leaders signed an open letter condemning Trump's platform.
Trump's immigration plans are popular with his supporters. But the poll shows a much more mixed response among the broader electorate, Republicans included, FWD.us said.
"The battleground voters in these states oppose every major immigration policy that Donald Trump has put forth," Jefrey Pollock of Democratic pollster Global Strategy Group said in a press call.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the poll results.
Nearly a third of Republican voters surveyed reported unfavorable views of Trump, with 69 percent against revoking citizenship from children born to illegal immigrants, one of the key components of Trump's immigration platform, according to FWD.us.
Trump's platform would bar potential tech employees, along with thousands of other men and women, from entering or staying in the US and working for companies like Facebook, Dropbox and Microsoft, all of which have CEOs on the FWD.us founder board.
The survey results give Zuckerberg's organization hope for immigration reform, which it says would create 3.22 million jobs by 2024 and cut the federal deficit by $897 billion.
"2017 is a really clear and excellent opportunity to pass an immigration reform through Congress," said FWD.us President Todd Schulte. "We look at these numbers and we see strong bipartisan support."
Jon Lerner, of Republican polling organization Basswood Research, acknowledged that anti-immigration rhetoric worked in Trump's favor during much of his campaign season. But he thinks that time has passed.
"Trump got mileage to date out of his position [on immigration] but that mileage is quickly running out and the electorate he has to appeal to now is very different," Lerner said in a press call.