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I'm just telling you the internal situation. And they were getting the same results before me and after me, and even when we were reporting anti-immigration ministers, over literal decades with different questions polls and groups.
Whether they are right or wrong, that is what they believe, so that is the attack vector that has most chance of success in my view.
I think the thing anti-immigration hardliners don't realize is most people don't care about the issue as deeply as they do. Looking at the most recent UK elections, there's about 15% of the voting population that's truly and deeply anti-immigration.
There may be majorities super majorities for various anti-migration actions, but people's actual feelings on them are actually, 'sure, why not' to 'not really caring one way or the other, but it seems better' then not thinking about it again, and other issues may easily shift their view on said issue.
So, the fact polling shows a majority of people may say they want draconian immigration measures is sort of like the polling my left-wing friends sometimes point too as proof people want a wide raft of progressive economic stuff, but then don't vote for the candidate supporting said things, either in the primary or the general.
That's because they may agree, but they care less about those issues than issue y or z.
Like, I'm a left-wing social democrat who cares deeply about a lot of things, but I also realize I'm a weirdo who cares more than 95% of the US does about any specific issue, so I understand issue polling is at best, hazy.
I think there are mote people than you might think who are anti-immigration. But thats not to say they are anti-immigration as a priority.
Certainly working class populations in the North and Midlands are pretty anti-immigratiin. But they also know the Tories are not likely to help out their areas. And Reform numbers were probably depressed by the fact everyone knows they won't actually get into government this time around.
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