Rivers of Blood Survey

18 April 2008

A survey conducted by Ipsos from 11-13 April 2008 found that a quarter (25%) of British adults felt that local areas were losing their sense of Britishness because of immigration; a 13 percentage point increase from 2005. Twenty four per cent of those questioned believed that there was a 'great deal' of tension between people of different races and nationalities and 52% said they believed there was a 'fair amount' of tension. Only four per cent thought there was no tension at all.

Topline Results

Results are based on a nationally representative sample of 1,000 GB adults aged 18+ years;
Interviews were conducted by telephone using Random Digit Dialling;
Fieldwork was conducted on 11-13 April 2008;
Data are weighted by age, gender, social class, work status and Government Office Region to reflect the population profile;
When results do not add up to 100%, this may be due to computer rounding or multiple responses;
An asterisk (*) denotes a finding of less than 0.5% but greater than zero;
Base: All adults (aged 18+) unless otherwise stated;
Download the data tabulations pdf, 204KB

Q1 Would you describe yourself as … ?

	2005*	2008
	%	%
Very racially prejudiced against people from other races	2	3
A little racially prejudiced against people from other races	23	17
Not prejudiced at all	75	79
Don't know	1	*
Refused	0	*

*2005 BBC Multiculturalism Survey, conducted by telephone

Q2 Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

My area doesn't feel like Britain any more because of immigration

	2005	2008
	%	%
Agree	12	25
Disagree	86	73
Don't know	2	1
Refused	0	*

Net agree	-74	-48

Parts of this country don't feel like Britain any more because of immigration

	2005	2008
	%	%
Agree	54	58
Disagree	40	38
Don't know	6	3
Refused	*	*

Net agree	+14	+20

Q3 There are different opinions about immigrants from other countries living in Britain. By immigrants we mean people who come to live in Britain. How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

"There are too many immigrants in Britain"

	2008
	%
Strongly agree	33
Tend to agree	26
Neither agree nor disagree	11
Tend to disagree	14
Strongly disagree	12
Don't know / Refused	4

Total agree	59
Total disagree	26
Net agree	+33

There are different opinions about immigrants from other countries living in Britain. By immigrants we mean people who come to live in Britain. How much do you agree or disagree with the following statement?

"There are too many immigrants in Britain"

	Strongly agree	Tend to agree	Neither nor	Tend to disagree	Strongly disagree	Don't know	Total agree	Total disagree
	%	%	%	%	%	%	%	%
1989	37	26	18	10	8	1	63	18
1994*	24	40	-	24	9	3	64	33
1997*	25	36	-	24	11	4	61	35
1999*	22	33	-	22	11	13	55	33
2000	35	31	13	11	6	3	66	17
2001	33	21	10	20	11	5	54	31
February 2007*	39	29	15	9	4	3	68	13
November 2007	41	27	8	14	8	2	68	22
April 2008	33	26	11	14	12	4	59	26
Change from Nov '07	-8	-1	+3	-	+4	+2	-9	+4

*face-to-face survey

Q4 And do you think that the Government should or should not encourage immigrants to return to their country of origin?

	Base: All	Base: all agreeing there are too many immigrants (572)
	%	%
Should	49	66
Should not	43	28
Don't know	7	5
Refused	1	1

Net should	+6	+38

Q5 How much tension, if any, do you think there is in Britain between people of different races and nationalities?

	%
A great deal	24
A fair amount	52
Not very much	18
None at all	4
Don't know	2
Refused	*

At least some tension	94

Q6 And how likely or unlikely do you think it is that this tension will result in violence?

Base: All who think there is at least some tension (944)

	%
Certain to	9
Very likely	17
Fairly likely	38
Fairly unlikely	25
Very unlikely	8
Certain not to	2
Don't know	2

Certain to / likely	64
Unlikely / certain not to	35
Net likely	+29

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