ABSTRACT
Immigration issues have received considerable negative press coverage across North America and Europe especially following the terrorist events in New York on September 11, 2001. The PEW (2002) Global Attitudes Project included a single question on immigration: “Is the influence of immigrants on the way things are going in YOUR own country Good or Bad?” The overall world sample for this PEW survey was 38,263 respondents with over 8,000 respondents recruited in North and South America and over 6,000 respondents sampled in Europe. In the two historically prominent immigration countries of North America, the majority of respondents felt that immigrants were a good influence on the way things were going in their respective countries: Canada—77% good, 18% bad; post 9/11 United States—49% good, 43% bad. However, in Europe, before terrorist attacks in London and Madrid and race riots in France, the majority of respondents felt that the influence of immigrants was bad on the way things were going in their respective countries. European results yielded the following patterns: France—46% good, 50% bad; Britain—37% good, 50% bad; Germany—35% good, 60% bad; Italy—25% good, 67% bad; Poland—24% good, 45% bad. The report mentions that these majority views about the negative influence of immigrants may reflect the fact that for the first time in modern history, Western European nations are themselves becoming immigrant societies (PEW, 2002).
