A new poll has found that 49 per cent of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigration, a huge jump from last October when only 28 per cent backed the idea.
The Essential Research survey also revealed 48 per cent of voters would welcome a national debate on the issue, and showed that two thirds of Australians agree that populist senator Pauline Hanson talks about topics other politicians are afraid to bring up.
The top reasons for wanting a ban were fears over terrorism, and a belief that Muslim migrants do not integrate nor share Australian values. The poll was first conducted in early August and then repeated to ensure the results were not outliers.
Writing in The Guardian about the results, Essential Research pollster Peter Lewis says his polling company decided to ask whether people opposed a ban following Ms. Hanson’s maiden speech in the Senate. In it, the populist One Nation party politician proposed Australia end Muslim migration and stop building mosques and Islamic schools.
Mr. Lewis expresses horror at the number of people sceptical of mass Muslim migration and that large numbers of Labour and Green voters also back a ban. [Breitbart London] Read more
Nearly half of all Australians want Muslim immigration ban
The poll was conducted by Essential Media Communications and comes a week after Pauline Hanson’s maiden speech to the Senate that warned Australian was being swamped by Muslims.
When asked “Would you support or oppose a ban on Muslim immigration to Australia?” 49 per cent chose support, 40 per cent opposed and 11 per cent didn’t know.
40 per cent of Labor voters supported the ban, as did 60 per cent of Liberal/National Party voters and 34 per cent of Green voters.
When asked ‘What is the main reason you support a ban on Muslim immigration?” 27 per cent said because of the threat of terrorism, 41 per cent said Muslims did not integrate into Australian society, 22 per cent said Muslims do not share our values and four per cent said Australia was a Christian country.
Essential Media executive director Peter Lewis said he was so surprised by the results he ran the poll twice to make sure it was not a rogue outcome. [The West Australian] Read more
Race discrimination commissioner criticises Pauline Hanson for stoking division
The race discrimination commissioner, Tim Soutphommasane, says Pauline Hanson is stoking division and appealing to xenophobia as new polling suggests 49% of Australians support One Nation’s call for a ban on Muslim immigration.
Following Hanson’s first speech in the Senate last week, in which she declared that Australia was in danger of being “swamped” by Muslims and reiterated her call for a ban on Muslim immigration, Soutphommasane was expected to use the opportunity of a forum at the Australian National University on Wednesday to urge Australians to resist politicians’ attempts to divide the community according to race or religion.
…. Asked whether they would support or oppose one of Pauline Hanson’s most provocative propositions – a ban on Muslim immigration – 49% of those polled in the Essential survey agreed with the ban, while 40% opposed the idea.
Support for banning Muslim immigration is highest among Coalition voters at 60% and non-major party voters at 58% – but the ban also has substantial support from progressive voters. [The Guardian] Read more
Half Of Australia Would Ban Muslim Migration. Here’s Why That’s Shocking
Almost half of Australia would support a ban on Muslim migration to this country, according to a new poll published Wednesday.
That’s shocking.
As revealed in The Guardian, polling service Essential asked “Would you support or oppose a ban on Muslim immigration to Australia?” They found that 49 percent of respondents would support it. Just 40 percent opposed it. Of the supporters, 40 percent claimed Muslims “do not integrate into Australian society”, 27 percent cited “terrorist threat”, and 22 percent said “They do not share our values”.
There was outrage last week when One Nation leader Pauline Hanson called for a ban on Muslim migration in her maiden speech in parliament. The Essential polling finds that one in two Australians would agree with her.
“The result floored me,” said Peter Lewis, Essential’s executive director, in a piece in The Guardian. [The Huffington Post] Read more
Australia: Muslim leader heartbroken at anti-Islam poll
Leading community voices express dismay that 1 in 2 Australians want ban on Muslim immigration
Politicians are not doing enough to change the anti-Islam public discourse in Australia, say two of the nation’s leading Muslim figures.
Speaking to Anadolu Agency on Thursday in response to a poll that shows 49 percent of Australians support a ban on Muslim immigrants, the Australian Federation Islamic Councils’ president Keysar Trad and Mariam Veiszadeh, founder and president of the Australian Islamophobia Register, condemned politicians for allowing an environment of anti-Muslim sentiment to thrive.
Trad said he was “heartbroken” and “devastated” by the poll finding, underlining that “irresponsible politics” are in part to blame.
“Australians are being led through fear politics to project a different image to the one we really are. By nature [we] are a generous and hospitable and welcoming people,” he stressed. [Anadolu Agency] Read more
This is not the Australia I know: first Muslim woman MP hits back at immigration poll
The first Muslim woman elected to federal Parliament, Anne Aly, has declared that a poll showing half of respondents want to ban Muslim immigration doesn’t reflect the true feelings and reality of mainstream Australia.
However, Dr Aly, the Labor member for the WA seat of Cowan and a counter-radicalisation expert, said a degree of xenophobia towards minorities does exist, fed by hateful rhetoric, and needs to be confronted by political leaders and regular people.
…. “We’ve got a society that is one of the world’s most cohesive, multicultural and multi-faith societies,” Dr Aly told Fairfax Media.
“What this poll does show is that the cohesiveness is quite fragile. We need to keep working on it.” [The Sydney Morning Herald] Read more
Pauline Hanson says 49% support for ban on Muslim immigration is too low
Pauline Hanson says she doesn’t believe that 49% of voters support a ban on Muslim immigration to Australia.
“I’ll tell you something, I believe it’s a lot higher than that,” she told Sky News on Thursday.
“Because people would have been in fear to answer the question, the polling, because they don’t know who’s taking the call and they don’t want to be registered of what their views are.”
This week’s Essential Poll found 49% of Australians support the One Nation leader’s call to ban Muslim immigration.
It found 60% of Coalition supporters, 40% of Labor supporters, and 34% of Greens supporters support the policy.
Hanson said she wasn’t shocked that so many Greens voters support her policy.
“[Muslims] have no tolerance for gay people, which is so wrong, and yet I get ridiculed for that but I’m very open-minded, as far as it goes,” she said. [The Guardian] Read more
Islam Surveyed 