Nearly two-thirds of Germans fear the “Islamisation” of their homeland, and fear the flood of refugees coming into the country will bring crime and terrorism, according to a new poll.
A whopping 57 percent of Germans polled said the rise of Islam worries them, as hundreds of thousands of refugees continue streaming into the country from the Middle East and Africa. The poll was commissioned by the evangelical news agency Idea. Additionally, nearly 60 percent also said they fear refugees will bring crime and terrorism to Germany, including a whopping 9 out of 10 Jews polled.
Only a third of those polled said they are not concerned about the potential rise of Islam. Women were more likely to express fear (61 percent of respondents), although more than half the men surveyed also expressed fear. The difference in attitude between the churched and unchurched was not substantial. More than 55 percent of those polled in both groups said they are concerned.
The poll reflects a rising anti-immigrant sentiment in Germany that played itself out in recent elections in which Chancellor Angela Merkel’s party suffered massive blows. Merkel has taken a position in favor of embracing the refugees, and the country has taken in more than a million in the past year alone.
She hasn’t budged on her position in the face of growing opposition, and another million refugees are set to gain entrance to the country in the next year. Merkel has, however, expressed regret in the way the migrant crisis has been handled, saying the migrant problem should have been addressed before it became a full-blown crisis.
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