Immigration salience

In anticipation of the midterm elections, it is very popular in the media to portray immigration as an issue that will decide a lot of races.  I think this is untrue and mostly unsubstantiated.  Very often it is based on polls that do not weigh the importance of different issues.  Poll after poll show the economy as most important.  So people are concerned about immigration, but not nearly as much as other things.  Registered Latino voters themselves believe immigration is only the fifth most important issue.

Meanwhile, for all Americans a July 2010 Gallup poll shows immigration as tied for fourth (at 7% saying it is most important), behind the economy (31%), unemployment/jobs (22%), and dissatisfaction with government (11%).

Yet we get stories like this one from the Orlando Sentinel, which is quite remarkable.  The reporter notes that Florida politicians are avoiding discussing immigration, then notes almost no one is mentioning it during campaign stops, and then concludes that immigration "could make a crucial difference."  Well, it could, but it won't.