Public Attitudes on Migration: Rethinking How People Perceive Migration
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Funded by the European Union Public attitudes on migration: rethinking how people perceive migration An analysis of existing opinion polls in the Euro-Mediterranean region 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Developed for ICMPD under the EU funded programme Introduction .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 9 EUROMED Migration IV by the Observatory of Public What are attitudes to migration in the EuroMediterranean region today? .................................................................................................................... 13 Attitudes to Migration - Migration Policy Centre, European University Institute, Florence What evidence exists on attitudes to migration in the EuroMediterranean region? ..................................................................................................... 21 Overview of existing surveys examining public attitudes to migration in the Southern Mediterranean and typology of questions asked .... 21 Dr. James Dennison Overview of existing surveys examining public attitudes to migration in Europe and typology of questions asked ...................................... 21 Dr. Lenka Dražanová European international academic surveys ......................................................................................................................................... 23 National surveys ................................................................................................................................................................................ 28 Commercial polling ............................................................................................................................................................................ 28 What are the methods by which attitudes to migration can be measured and analysed? ............................................................................................ 30 Why do attitudes to migration vary? ............................................................................................................................................................................. 33 Theory ........................................................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Attitudes to immigration .................................................................................................................................................................... 33 Funnel of causality ............................................................................................................................................................................ 39 Attitudes to emigration ...................................................................................................................................................................... 40 Hypotheses .................................................................................................................................................................................................... 42 http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/opam/about/ Attitudes to immigration .................................................................................................................................................................... 42 http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu Attitudes to emigration ...................................................................................................................................................................... 42 Analysing attitudes to immigration .............................................................................................................................................................................. 43 The presented study includes active links to sources and Individual level effects on attitudes towards immigration ............................................................................................................................. 49 references that are accessible online. Country level effects on attitudes towards immigration ................................................................................................................................ 57 Analysing attitudes to emigration ................................................................................................................................................................................ 67 Readers are strongly encouraged to consult the soft version of this study to access all proper links. Individual level effects on attitudes towards emigration ............................................................................................................................... 68 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 75 © European Union, 2018 Recommendations for ICMPD stakeholders and media professionals ......................................................................................................................... 77 The information and views set out in this study are those References .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 79 of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official opinion of the European Union. Neither the European Union Appendix A ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 85 institutions and bodies nor any person acting on their behalf Appendix B.................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 95 may be held responsible for the use which may be made of Appendix C .................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 99 the information contained therein. Appendix D ................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 100 Design: Pietro Bruni - helloo.org 2 3 Executive Summary The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) commissioned the Migration Policy Centre (MPC) of the European University Institute to provide this report in early 2018, based on the work of the MPC’s Observatory of Public Attitudes to Migration (OPAM). This built on the insight and recommendations of the first EuroMed Migration Communications Study—‘How does the media on both sides of the Mediterranean report on migration?' This second study aims to: • Offer a better understanding of public attitudes to migration in 17 selected countries on both sides of the Mediterranean;1 • Attempt to explain why attitudes to migration are what they are — with an emphasis on the role of media. The report both summarises previous findings and provides new analyses; • Provide recommendations on how to communicate on migration in a non-polarising manner. A better understanding of public attitudes to migration The report includes a comprehensive data inventory of all extant quantitative evidence of attitudes to immigration and emigration in all 17 countries since 2010. For the Southern Partner Countries (SPCs), this includes 35 datasets. In Europe, where such surveys are considerably more common and exclusively focused on immigration, sources were divided into three groups: international academic surveys; national academic surveys; and commercial polling companies. The key findings about what attitudes to migration are include the following: • In Europe, contrary to popular belief, attitudes to immigration are not becoming more negative. Rather, they are notably stable and, in recent years, have become more positive. • What emerges unambiguously is that Europeans everywhere want immigrants who are able to assimilate socially, labour market issues like professional qualifications are considered important but less so, while racial and religious backgrounds are considered unimportant. • Unlike preferences about immigration, the perceived importance of the issue of immigration is volatile and has risen sharply across Europe. As such, it will likely continue to dominate national and European elections discourses in 2019. In this context, voters most concerned about immigration—who often already held anti-immigration attitudes—are more likely to vote for anti-immigration parties, even when these parties do not align with other issues they believe in. • Europeans increasingly associate the EU with not enough control at external borders, though