A poll of 22 countries released Wednesday showed that globally people are not happy about increasing immigration, with not over half of of any country viewing immigration positively.
More than half of the countries Ipsos polled believed “there are too many immigrants in our country.” In Turkey, 85 percent agreed with the sentiment and 51 percent thought likewise in the United States.
The poll found that Americans and the French feel almost equally uncomfortable with the changes immigration has brought to their nations. Fifty-two percent of Americans feel uncomfortable with changes immigration has brought as do 54 percent of those polled in France. The Ipsos poll was of 16,040 adults overall.
The poll revealed that 35 percent of Americans viewed immigration positively, while only 10 percent of Mexicans did so. Only in Saudi Arabia did people think that immigration “is good for the economy of your country.” The poll also found that not one country agreed that “immigrants make your country a more interesting place to live.” Forty-two percent of Americans agreed with this statement and just 17 percent in France did.
Ipsos also asked how do people view a terrorism threat in relation with the refugee crisis worldwide. Sixty-one percent agreed “there are terrorists pretending to be refugees who will enter my country to cause violence and destruction.”
The countries that were least optimistic about refugees successfully integrating were European. For example, just 30 percent in Belgium thought so.