A poll has revealed that 65 per cent of Italians under the age of 35 are against mass migration with some wanting to limit the number of migrants flowing into the country while others want the rate reduced to zero.
The poll, conducted by polling firm Ixè, shows that Italian youth are less and less positive about mass migration into the country with only 35 per cent saying they approved of it. Forty per cent of the respondents said that they wanted much stricter controls on migrant flows while 20 per cent claimed to want migration stopped entirely, La Stampa reports.
President of Ixè Roberto Weber said that the results in the older age groups are even more starkly against mass migration. “Among the older age groups these numbers increase, people tend to be even more distrustful towards foreigners,” he said.
Weber added that traditional centre-left voters were also becoming more and more sceptical of mass migration and said that the current rhetoric from former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is tapping into that scepticism.
Berlusconi announced this week that he would look to deport some 600,000 illegal migrants from the country if his party is elected to office next month. The former Prime Minister’s coalition partner and Lega party leader Matteo Salvini, has also promised to deport at least 500,000 illegal immigrants and secure the country’s northern and southern borders.
Antonio Noto, of rival polling firm IPR, said that he did not think the recent murder of 18-year-old Pamela Mastropietro, who was killed and her body chopped into pieces by a Nigerian migrant drug dealer, would have a large impact on the election next month.
Noto said that immigration was a problem affecting every region in Italy, whereas in the past many Italian voters identified with issues affecting the more prosperous north or the rural and less industrial south.
While the number of incoming migrants substantially decreased in 2017, recent figures show that migration from North Africa to Italy is rapidly on the rise since the start of the year.
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