Offrical poll shows increasing fear of migrants in Hungary

Budapest (MTI) – A fear of migrants has significantly increased in the wake of their recent influx, pollster Median said on Wednesday, referring to their latest survey.

The majority of respondents are concerned about health hazards and terrorism, and see migrants as aggressive and demanding, rather than peaceful and cooperative, the pollster’s report said.

The poll, taken between September 11 and 15 on a representative sample, showed that 79 percent of respondents would tighten Hungary’s asylum rules, as opposed to 66 percent in last November. Only a fragment of the respondents said that Hungary would benefit from accommodating migrants.

The vast majority of the sample said that migrants must be treated humanely, but respondents voiced opposing views on whether migrant services should be provided by the government, civil groups, or both.

More people voiced a greater deal of satisfaction over the government’s measures concerning migrants than over any government move in recent years, the report said.

The report noted that even respondents with affiliations with green LMP or the Socialist Party voiced strong sentiments against migrants, and it was only supporters of small leftist parties who voiced a distinctly pro-migrant stance.

Thirty-four percent of the sample said that Hungary’s borders should be sealed and illegal entrants should be stopped even if that involved using tear gas or rubber bullets.

Most respondents were uninformed concerning the number of migrants arriving in Hungary: merely 20 percent were able to estimate the magnitude of entrants since the beginning of the year or the number of illegal migrants currently staying in the country.

Photo: MTI

Source: http://mtva.hu/hu/hungary-matters