PLI Bulletin

2016 Messaging, Protecting Immigrants, Ballot Victories and More

Posted on November 23, 2016

Don’t Ask Immigration Status Act: Every city and county should direct its employees—including police—not to inquire about anyone’s immigration status unless explicitly required to do so by federal or state law. That’s what the Don’t Ask Immigration Status Act requires. We are all safer when everybody feels they can interact with government without fear.

Messaging lesson of the 2016 election: 2016 shows that persuadable voters are not won by an appeal to the common good. “Stronger together,” an expression of communitarianism, does not motivate individualistic white working-class voters. An appeal to economic fairness would have engaged these voters’ self-interest, but such a message was absent from Clinton TV ads. Read more about it on IdeaLog, our blog intended to raise eyebrows and engage minds.

Sanctuary Cities and other means to protect immigrants: THURSDAY, December 1 @3pm Eastern, 2pm Central, 1pm Mountain, Noon Pacific. Donald Trump has pledged to deport three million immigrants. In this webinar, experts from the National Immigration Law Center and from “sanctuary cities” will explain what cities, counties and states can do, and which few of these policies could trigger punitive withholding of federal funds. Register here.

2016 National Popular Vote Tracker: The Cook Political Report constantly updates vote totals from the presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races. The Vote Tracker shows how incredibly close the election was.

Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker: We should expect an expansion of corporate subsidies in 2017. Keep track of them in your own jurisdiction through the Good Jobs First Subsidy Tracker, which includes more than 500,000 separate subsidy awards to private companies.

Progressive victories by ballot initiative: While the presidential election was a disaster and other candidate elections just so-so, progressives did very well in 2016 by enacting policies through ballot initiatives. See our Progress in the States & Localities for details.