Public opinion has seemed to change in the last week, but this isn't the whole picture
Yesterday David Cameron announced that the UK would accept up to 20,000 Syrian refugees over the next five years – that will amount to about 12 a day over the course of the parliament.
In our latest poll we asked Left Foot Forward readers whether the UK should accept more refugees.
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Of 441 respondents, 151 (34 per cent) said yes, 276 (63 per cent) said no, and 14 (3 per cent) didn’t know.
The refugee crisis is a complex issue and it is difficult to properly gauge opinion with a yes/no question. There are many factors to consider: for example, does sending a message of acceptance encourage more people to make deadly sea crossings into Europe? How many of those who said ‘no’ are happy with the status quo, and how many would like to take less? Are there conditions attached to the ‘yes’ answers?
BBC Newsnight conducted a similar survey with ComRes this week, asking people by telephone their opinion on the number of Syrian and Libyan refugees the UK should admit. They found that 57 per cent of people were in favour of the status quo, or the government taking fewer refugees from Syria and Libya. 40 per cent said the UK should take more.
Meanwhile ComRes found that people who had seen the pictures of Aylan Kurdi were ‘considerably’ more likely to say the UK should take more refugees (44 per cent to 24 per cent).
This raises real questions as to how people form their opinions of refugees and how deeply rooted those opinions are. The images of Aylan Kurdi appear to have convinced a significant number of people that refugees are genuinely vulnerable rather than threatening.
David Cameron’s weak response to the crisis is indicative of the fact that there is still insufficient pressure from below. Over the past week, petitions to the government have seemed to signify a huge outpouring of public sympathy towards refugees, but this is clearly not the whole picture.
Ruby Stockham is a staff writer at Left Foot Forward
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9 Responses to “Weekly survey: Just a third of LFF readers think the UK should take more refugees”
jj
Strange, and this is LFF readers, who are far more likely to be all for more refugees when compared to the general population. It seems your numerous articles are at odds with public opinion?
I’m all for taking in more refugees, and I think the governments stance on this issue is perfectly reasonable
Cole
Probably because only the right wing nutters who post comments here could be bothered to participate in the survey.
C A
Let the oil rich Arabs look after persecuted Muslims. Turkey can process them and we can make provision for them there. Let the Ummah look after them. The real vulnerable non-Muslims that have been decimated for years need can seek refuge here. That makes sense not a more Mohammeds and Ahmeds.
Yvonne Lunde-andreassen
what about the ones who have stayed in Syria, who cares about them ? raqqa-sl.com/en
C A
Thank you.