Democratic pollster Mark Mellman admitted on Sunday that President Barack Obama’s plan to grant amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants “would not be a positive” for Democratic candidates in competitive races this fall.
Mellman spoke to Fox News’ Chris Wallace about the Democrats’ prospects in the November midterm elections, with Wallace asking specifically how the White House’s rumored plan to grant legal status to as many as 6 million illegal immigrants would affect the outcome.
“There’s been a lot of reporting that red-state Democrats did not want the president to delay deportations for millions of illegals,” the Fox New host said. “As the pollster in a bunch of those red states, would the idea of executive action be good or bad for those candidates?”
“Look, I don’t think it’s a positive, honestly,” Mellman replied. “Executive action, I think, would not be a positive for those candidates.”
“But the reality is, there’s a lot more at stake here,” he added, claiming that comprehensive immigration reform is a vital task and must be accomplished one way or another.
“But as a strict matter of politics,” Wallace pressed. “If you’re going to do it, you’d rather have it after the midterms rather than before?”
“I would,” Melmann admitted. “But I do politics, not policy.”