The sudden debate about illegal immigration seems to have removed Rep. Tom Tancredo's impetus for running for President. Tancredo, who admits he had no real chance of winning, planned to wage an issue campaign to force a national conversation on immigration.

The surprise mobilization of half a million people in Los Angeles a few weeks ago and the protests that have followed, brought immigration to the public's immediate attention. What that attention is saying, however, isn't very clear.

The data varies based on what question is asked and how specifically the question addresses current ideas for dealing with immigration. The polls can all be found at PollingReport.

When asked whether illegal immigration takes away Americans jobs or whether it takes away jobs Americans don't want to do, 34% believe it hurts American jobs and 47% believe it only takes away unwanted jobs according to the Fox News/Opinion Dynamics Poll. The CBS News Poll asks the same question and finds 34% saying immigrants take American jobs, but 53% saying immigration only takes away unwanted jobs. The Time Poll finds 35% saying immigration takes away American jobs and 55% saying it only takes away unwanted jobs. The AP-Ipsos has very divergent results. They find 29% saying immigrants "Take Jobs Wanted by Americans" and 65% saying they "Take Jobs Americans Don't Want"

The spread in 'taking away unwanted jobs' doesn't seem to fit within the margins of error. And the varied phrasing of the question doesn't seem like it would skew the responses. But what the information does tell us is that a solid majority (53%-65%) of Americans believe that illegal immigrants are taking jobs that Americans won't do.

Mystery Pollster does a great job of sifting through the muck. He finds
" Large numbers of Americans are concerned about illegal immigration:
* 68% agree that "illegal immigrants entering the United States" are an "extremely serious" or "very serious" problem; (Time)
* 74% say immigration is a "very big" or "moderately big" problem (Pew)
* 82% say the U.S. is not "doing enough along its borders to keep illegal immigrants from crossing into this country" (Time)
* 71% say they are "more likely" to support a candidate who "favors tighter controls on illegal immigration" (NBC/WSJ)"
I recommend you read his piece if you want to better understand how to interpret the public opinion data.