Education International Research
Public opinion and the perception of immigration
According to data published by the journalists’ group PorCausa5, in a study carried out through Metroscopia, Spanish public opinion does not see immigration as a problem. The majority of Spaniards considers a border management model based on the shield to have “failed,” and 61.3% of the persons questioned think that legal avenues must be opened so as not to play with people’s lives. Similarly, 80% opt for a society of “co-existence,” which suggests a certain predisposition to welcome and integrate the migrant population. However, the same data show a prevalence of certain negative perceptions of the effects of this phenomenon, and the experience of assessment thereof in terms of a threat, as suggested by some of the results: • 64% think that “migrants contribute little or anything to employment creation”; • 47.5% believe that “migrants pay little or any taxes”; • 26% believe that “they are a threat to our jobs”; • El 47,5% cree que “sobrecargan nuestros servicios públicos” • A little more than 26% believe that “they threaten our values and culture” and “our jobs”. According to the collected data, these perceptions of immigration are more deep-rooted among those questioned who consider themselves to be on the political right than those who consider themselves to be on the left. Breaking down the answers by political affinity, the results are as follows: • Those who vote Podemos (left-wing party) are the ones that have the most positive opinion of immigration – 90.6% approve of it. • 43.6 of those who vote for the Partido Socialista Obrero Español (centre left) agree with the statement that “the borders should be reinforced and stricter controls should be imposed”. • The majority of those who vote for the Partido Popular (right) and Ciudadanos (centre right) believe that migrants overburden the public services and contribute little if anything towards employment creation (63% and 67.7% respectively).
5 PorCausa. Investigación y periodismo. Available at: https://porcausa.org/articulo/espana-pais-acogida/ (consulted on 5 August 2017).
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