Nearly two-thirds of all German citizens want the country’s federal government to impose a ban on migration from predominantly Muslim nations, a damning survey has revealed.
Polling conducted by INSA on behalf of the Bild tabloid newspaper showed that 61 percent of respondents now advocate refusing any more migrants from Islamic countries with many explaining they no longer feel safe in their own country and believe an increasing number of new arrivals despise German society.
A majority of voters from every political party except for the German Green Party supported a ban on Muslim immigration.
The survey was conducted amid the ongoing pro-Palestine demonstrations witnessed in several German cities following the Hamas terror attack in Israel on Oct. 7 and the retaliatory measures carried out in Gaza by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
A total of 60 percent of respondents admitted the ongoing protests, attended by large numbers of foreign nationals sympathetic to the Hamas cause, concern them, while 77 percent of Germans believe that a growing contingent of the country’s migrant population resents German society and Western values.
In a damning indictment of the federal government’s longstanding liberal migration policy adopted by both the current coalition government and the previous administration led by Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU), a total of 72 percent of respondents said they no longer agreed with the former chancellor’s remarks from 2015 when she told the nation, “We can do it!” in relation to taking in an unprecedented number of refugees.
Hermann Binkert, INSA’s founder and managing director, told Bild: “The clear stance documents the Germans’ farewell to Angela Merkel’s migration policy.
“Citizens expect a noticeable turnaround. These numbers should shake up politicians,” he added.
The INSA survey is consistent with similar polling recently conducted on the issue of immigration across Germany, with a shift in attitude also evidenced by the surge in popularity of the anti-mass migration Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, which is currently polling in second place nationally.
A state-run ARD-DeutschlandTrend poll from earlier this month showed that 64 percent of Germans wanted the country to take in fewer immigrants, with the same number believing that Germany faces more disadvantages than advantages when it comes to immigration.