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.

The recent expansion of the EU has raised fears among longtime EU members of a wave of immigration. Many of those countries have announced plans to limit access for newcomers to their labour markets.

Gilles Corman, who monitors European public opinion for Ipsos, says immigration is among the top issues Europeans want dealt with in elections there, behind unemployment.

In one country after another, those with more education tended to have the most positive view of the influence of immigration.

Britons expressed the strongest negative feelings of any of the nine countries polled. Six in 10 Britons said immigrants are a bad influence on their country.

"The UK has historically embraced diversity," said Sam McGuire, with Ipsos-UK. He said the high negative ratings may have to do with Britons' fears about the recent expansion of the European Union, fanned by stories predicting a flood of immigrants.

Another country where residents said they had a fairly negative view of immigration was Germany, where almost six in 10, 57%, said immigrants was a bad influence.