Thought Theater

Polling Shows Immigrants Seen More Favorably genre: Polispeak & Six Degrees of Speculation

Recent polling by AP-Ipsos indicates that immigrants are viewed more favorably than in 2004 in the United States and a number of European countries. Read the full article here. See prior Thought Theater postings on the issue here, here, and here.

AP-Ipsos polling found more tolerance for immigrants now than two years ago in the United States, Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain.

In fact, the changes in public sentiment over the last two years came in a shift from a number of people who didn't know how they felt in 2004 to more people feeling immigrants are a good influence. The separate polls of about 1,000 adults in each of the eight countries were conducted between May 1-22 and have a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

More than half the people in the United States -- 52 percent -- said immigrants are having a good influence in their newly adopted country, up 10 percentage points from May 2004. Among Britons surveyed, 43 percent viewed immigrants in a positive light -- up 11 points from two years ago. Almost half of Spaniards had an upbeat view of the newcomers' influence -- up 9 points from 2004. The French, Germans and Italians also have grown more likely to view immigrants favorably.

In the European countries polled -- Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain -- the public is about evenly divided on the influence of immigrants on their country.

An overwhelming number of those polled in all eight countries said immigrants work as hard or harder than people born in those countries.