Immigration will mean death for the Republican Party as left-leaning Hispanics increase in number, team up with white liberals and overwhelmingly Democratic blacks, and turn the electoral map blue. It's only by embracing the trend that threatens them — by supporting comprehensive immigration reform — that Republicans can win over Hispanics and save themselves.
That's the story, anyway. But it neglects several important things, one of which is the remaining electoral power of whites, who will stay a majority for decades and in an underappreciated trend have been leaving the Democrats over the last half-century. White Backlash, a new book from political scientists Marisa Abrajano and Zoltan L. Hajnal, says that immigration may actually contribute to this last phenomenon, driving whites unhappy with current policy to the right.
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