Voters say that British-born sons and daughters of immigrants are British – and they say they would not discriminate against immigrants when hiring
At YouGov we have been testing response to some recent news issues, exclusively for the Red Box
First, we asked whether the British-born son or daughter of an immigrant is an immigrant (10 per cent said so), or British (68 per cent), or both (that option was preferred by 15 per cent).
We then asked: "If you were the owner of a business, say a chain of fast-food restaurants, would you be biased in favour of hiring immigrant applicants or locally born applicants? Say you only know two things about the applicant, 1) they are both fully qualified for the role, and 2) one is a migrant from Poland, the other was born in Britain."
- 2 per cent said they would have a preference for the Polish immigrant
- 35 per cent said they would go for the British-born applicant
- 56 per cent said they would have no bias one way or anothe
Finally, we posed a different issue: "Pope Francis has given a speech to the European parliament in which he said the EU gave the impression of being somewhat 'elderly and haggard', of 'weariness and ageing'. He said the institution was like a grandmother, no longer fertile and vibrant. Is it true? Was it right for a Pope to express his opinion in this way?"
- 49 per cent said it was both true, and he was right to express his opinion
- 13 per cent said it was true, but he was wrong to say it
- 5 per cent disagreed with his judgment, but felt it was reasonable for him to have his say on the matter
9 per cent thought it was both untrue and wrong for him to intervene.
