A Pew Research Center poll claims that Mexicans look less favorably on Americans since the passage of SB 1070, a stat used today by the Christian Science Monitor to thread an article on immigration.
Just one problem: It took us about a minute to find another poll that shows Mexican attitudes toward Americans stil arel higher than they were five years ago.
If both polls are accurate, Mexicans' opinions about the United States appear to have swung wildly over the last few years.
The Monitor article states that:
Prior to the enactment of the Arizona's controversial SB 1070 one year ago, 62 percent of Mexicans had a positive opinion of the US, compared with 44 percent after the law passed, according to the Pew Research Center.
Arizona apparently has caused Mexicans to take a dimmer view of the entire country. But hold on -- a 2006 Zogby poll of more than 2,000 people in both Mexico and the United States found that "just 36 percent of Mexicans have a favorable opinion of Americans," according to an article in the Washington Times. (The older poll also reportedly showed that while most Mexicans think Americans are dishonest, lazy, thieving racists, Americans think Mexicans are pretty cool.)
To recap, most Mexicans thought Americans sucked in 2006. A few years later, something changed and nearly twice as many Mexicans liked us as in 2006. Then Arizona passed SB 1070, and a majority of Mexicans went back to disliking Americans -- but not as big of a majority as before.
Whatever Mexicans think of Americans, at least Arizona won't be the only one responsible for declining attitudes. The Monitor article notes that four other states -- Georgia, Florida, Alabama and South Carolina -- are preparing to adopt tough, new anti-illegal-immigrant laws.
