An article in Politico by Emily Schultheis points to what I call the 'X' factor in the cohesion or otherwise of the USA, that is, immigration:
The immigration proposal pending in Congress would transform the nation’s
political landscape for a generation or more — pumping as many as 11 million new Hispanic voters into the electorate a decade from now in ways that, if current trends hold, would produce an electoral bonanza for Democrats and cripple Republican prospects in many states they now win easily.
Beneath the philosophical debates about amnesty and border security, there
are brass-tacks partisan calculations driving the thinking of lawmakers in both
parties over comprehensive immigration reform, which in its current form offers
a pathway to citizenship — and full voting rights — for a group of undocumented residents that roughly equals the population of Ohio, the nation’s seventh-largest state. [My emphasis]
If these people had been on the voting rolls in 2012 and voted along the same
lines as other Hispanic voters did last fall, President Barack Obama’s
relatively narrow victory last fall would have been considerably wider, a
POLITICO analysis showed.
One wonders how that map will look after all those immigrants are absorbed? The Republicans appear to be rattled - and divided. Some seem to be bowing to the inevitable and by appearing to welcome the influx of new potential voters they hope eventually to gain their votes. Others, remaining strictly opposed, find themselves between a rock and a hard place!
