The first post-borders’ speech polls are in and the results are encouraging. Here's what they have to say about the public's response to the policies unveiled by the President on Monday:

The President’s plan won't resolve America's illegal immigration problem.
The polls, by Zogby and Rasmussen, both asked voters to indicate whether they thought the President’s plan would help or hinder efforts to reduce illegal immigration. In the Zogby poll, 47% of respondents said they thought the plan would make“solving” the illegal immigration problem more likely while 49% said it would make solving it more difficult. The Rasmussen poll found that support for the President’s plan was considerably lower: only 35% of respondents believe the plan would reduce illegal immigration. 47% thought it would not.

The President has done a poor job on immigration.
A separate Zogby poll conducted between May 12th and 16th found that only 17% of respondents approve of the job Bush has done on immigration, while only 16% approve of his track record on border security. In the Rasmussen poll, meanwhile, 39% of respondents said they "agreed" with Bush’s approach to immigration, 39% "disagreed" with it and 22% were “not sure”.

Enforcement First.
Asked to choose between three options, respondents to the more sophisticated Rasmussen poll overwhelmingly preferred enforcing employer sanctions (63%) over putting National Guard troops on the border (16%) or building a wall (13%). 79% of respondents, meanwhile, said they support strict employer penalties to reduce illegal immigration.

Consistent with previous polls, the Rasmussen survey also showed that the public continues to favor an enforcement-first approach:

The survey asked participants to choose between two immigration bills. "One would improve control of the borders but do nothing about the status of working immigrants who are here illegally. The other would legalize the status of working immigrants who are here illegally but would do nothing to improve control of the border."

By a 63% to 19% margin, voters prefer the bill that controls the borders but does nothing about the status of illegal aliens.

Only one cloud darkened the good news. According to Rasmussen:

61% favor an earned citizenship approach. Sixty-one percent (61%) favor an earned citizenship policy approach "that would let illegal aliens eventually become citizens if they pay a fine for entering the country illegally, pay all back taxes, and learn to speak English." Again, those who prefer the enforcement-first approach share the majority view on this question.

Clearly, work remains to be done educating the public about the nature and likely consequences of the legislation now making its way through the Senate. That said, the crisis of confidence in Bush administration handling of the issue means that the public is more open to persuasion on the issue than has been the case in many years.

And, as these polls show, amnesty's critics hold all the advantages: the public has a dim view of Bush's plan, little faith in the administration's credibility and strongly favors enforcement of existing law.

We've already won the debate. Now we've just got to win Congress.