Northern Ireland immigration protests: YouGov poll says 85% of Britons oppose riots while 58% have sympathy for the views of those in peaceful protests
Some 85% of Britons oppose recent immigration related riots in Britiain although 58% have sympathy for the views for peaceful protestors, a poll has found.
The recent poll by the private company YouGov found that 85% of people in England, Wales and Scotland oppose the unrest at recent protests with just 7% saying they support the violence. NI is not included in the poll.
Even the broader peaceful protests only hold the support of one in three Britons (34%), with more than half (54%) opposed.
However when it comes to those taking part in the recent protests peacefully, Britons are split – 42% think they represent the views of most Britons, while 38% disagree.
Sympathies with the views of those taking part in the protests are somewhat broad – six in ten Britons (58%) say they have a great deal or fair amount of sympathy for the views of those peacefully taking part in demonstrations that were ostensibly triggered by the Southport murders.
This includes majorities of Labour and Lib Dem voters (53-56%), as well as two-thirds of Conservatives (64%), with Reform voters are most sympathetic at 83%.
Two-thirds of Britons (67%) view immigration policy over recent years as having contributed to the violence, with 55% saying the same of recent Conservative governments.
However opposition to the riots is near-universal across every part of the public, with Reform UK voters being the only group showing any substantive levels of support, at 21%.
Even this is a clear minority, with three-quarters of Reform voters (76%) opposed to the riots. Support among other voters is far lower – only 9% of Conservatives, 3% of Labour voters and 1% of Lib Dems favour the outbreak in violent disorder.
Just 12% of Britons think that the recent disorder is justified, compared to 82% who think it is unjustified.
Some 88% of Britons view rioters as at least somewhat responsible for rioting, with 86% seeing social media as highly responsible and 74% blaming organised far right groups.
The majority of the Britons would back the army being brought in to help deal with the unrest, at 62%, with Reform leader Nigel Farage also backing the move.
See full poll results here.