Terrorism Threat Aggravates Refugee Crisis in Europe

In response to a question about the main cause of the refugee crisis in Europe, 32 percent of those polled in the United States agreed that the threat posed by ISIS (a group that is banned in Russia) and other terrorist groups is primarily responsible. This opinion is shared by 37 percent of Western European respondents.

Opinions in Eastern and Western Europe differ widely. In Western Europe, 11 percent blame the migration crisis on the political and military actions of the United States and its allies, while in Eastern Europe that figure is 23 percent. Only 8 percent of those US citizens polled agreed that the refugee crisis was caused by their country’s military interference.

The poll was conducted by Populus between September 25 and October 15, 2015. The sample, representative of the general population in terms of gender, age and geographic location, included 8,000 respondents in total or 1,000 per country (Great Britain, the US, Germany, France, Bulgaria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland). The confidence interval for the nationwide data was +/-3.1 percent, with a confidence level of 95 percent.

About the Sputnik.Polls Project

The international public opinion project kicked off in January 2015, in partnership with Populus, reputable British pollster. The project involves regular surveys in the United States and Europe on the most sensitive social and political issues.

Sputnik (sputniknews.com) is a news agency and radio network with multimedia news hubs in dozens of countries. Sputnik broadcasts through its websites, analog and digital radio, mobile apps and social media.