States ‘hold negative view of immigrants’

PEOPLE in some of the world’s leading industrial nations say immigrants mostly take jobs that citizens of their own countries do not want, yet they still say immigrants are a bad overall influence, Associated Press polls found.

In the United States and in the European countries polled Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Spain people were more likely to say they had negative views of the influence of immigrants, according to the AP-Ipsos polls. That comes at a time of high concern over unemployment and jobs and worries about terrorism.

Canadians have a positive view of the influence of immigrants, while the Japanese were divided on the influence of immigration on their country, according to the polls conducted for the AP by Ipsos, an international polling firm.