❓WHAT HAPPENED: A new poll shows that 70 percent of Spaniards support the deportation of illegal immigrants, including majorities among left-wing voters.
👤WHO WAS INVOLVED: The poll was conducted by Sigma Dos for the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, with responses reflecting support from voters across party lines.
📍WHEN & WHERE: The poll was recently conducted in Spain, amid increasing concerns over illegal immigration and its societal impacts.
💬KEY QUOTE: “The enormous complexity of immigration policy and the failure of the formulas implemented to try to regulate it have become a major problem for countries like Spain.” – El Mundo
🎯IMPACT: The poll results highlight a growing shift in favor of stricter immigration policies.
A recent Sigma Dos poll commissioned by Spanish media reveals that a significant majority of Spanish citizens, 70 percent, support the mass deportation of illegal immigrants. The results show strong backing across the political spectrum, with 92 percent of center-right Partido Popular (PP) voters and 89 percent of populist Vox supporters in favor. Notably, even 57 percent of voters aligned with Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez’s Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party (PSOE) expressed support for the measure.
Opposition was concentrated within the far-left Sumar party, where 67 percent of respondents rejected the idea. However, Sumar represents a relatively small segment of Spain’s electorate.
The poll specifically referenced Vox’s proposal for mass deportations, a policy that has gained attention across party lines. Immigration has become a “flashpoint” in the European Union (EU) country, with a growing number of citizens, across both the left and right, perceiving illegal immigration as a source of inconvenience. The paper observed that stricter immigration views, “typically associated with the right,” are now being adopted by “left-leaning socialist voters” as well.
The backdrop to this sentiment includes a rapid demographic transformation in Spain. The foreign-born population, which stood at less than one percent in 1991, will reach 20 percent by 2025. Additionally, so-called “family reunification” (chain migration) visas have reportedly surged by 650 percent since 2020, and current projections suggest that, without new restrictions, the ethnic Spanish population could fall to 60 percent by 2039.
The poll’s findings come amid growing public concern over issues such as rising migrant-related crime and record numbers of illegal arrivals in the Canary Islands. The trend reflects a broader European shift, with similar polls in countries like France and Germany indicating rising support for tighter immigration controls and increased anxiety over the security risks linked to mass migration.
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