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> I had assumed that the UK was broadly in consensus with wanting less of it. UK voters were [1], but their rulers didn't listen. [1] https://yougov.co.uk/top

> I had assumed that the UK was broadly in consensus with wanting less of it. UK voters were [1], but their rulers didn't listen. [1] https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/do-brits-think-that-immigration-has-been-too-high-or-low-in-the-last-10-years https://yougov.co.uk/topics/politics/trackers/do-brits-think...

ZeroGravitas 2y ago
Seems to be mostly old people and leave voters when you look at the breakdowns. The question is did they arrive at these conclusions ("immigrants are bad, Brexit is good") naturally or through decades of propaganda. And why did one of their votes make their other key concern worse?
- like_any_other 2y ago
  > Seems to be mostly old people In every single age group, more people think immigration is too high than about right or too low. Significantly more. Using latest poll from 24th March, 2025: 18-24 years: Immigration is: too high: 42%, about right + too low: 35% 25-49 years: Immigration is: too high: 59%, about right + too low: 23% 50-64 years: Immigration is: too high: 79%, about right + too low: 14% 65+ years: Immigration is: too high: 85%, about right + too low: 12% And is the government that is going against the wishes of its populace by implementing ever greater mass immigration, funding propaganda against immigration? As for why Brexit 'caused' increased immigration - you think it is a simple cause-and-effect? Or could it be that there is a government in the way, that enacts immigration policy independently of EU membership?
  - ZeroGravitas 2y ago
    The graph is falling gently till about 2021, when free movement with the EU ended, and then rises sharply. At that low point it's only retired ages and up that are suggesting it is too high. At the previous high point the crossover seems to be in the thirties. (Also, Conservatives are another high scoring group, the question asks about 10 years before and starts in 2019 so basically covers the last run of conservative government)
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
  - dijksterhuis 2y ago
    Do you have a source for this poll you've referenced? The latest yougov poll i can find (from 2023) has significantly different results -- more under 50s responded don't know about immigration levels versus a skew towards too high in the 50+ population. https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Internal_Immigration_Since_Brex_230605_W.pdf https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Internal_Imm... if the numbers have shifted over time, that's fine. but your 'latest poll' could be a daily mail phone in for all i know.
    - ZeroGravitas 2y ago
      The link is a couple of comments up this chain. Interestingly your link, which I think is part of the same survey series breaks it down into EU and non-EU immigration, and the latter has about a 10-30 point worse score, which can probably explain the scores for generic immigration getting worse immediately after the EU immigration got curtailed. And again, it's the Old/Conservative/Brexit voters who are on the "angrier about non-EU immigration" end of that range. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot.
tomxor 2y ago
It's a stupid question, the whole point of this article is to point out it's not in our control. Sure it's technically in our control but in reality most of us don't seem interested in filling all the necessary jobs to run our own society. We tried it, everything started falling apart, and we fell back on immigration again. A better question would be, would you be willing to become a lorry driver or a cleaner etc to reduce immigration. Then vote with a job application, you'd get a totally different result that reflects economic reality. If you don't work by choice you don't get a vote (beggers can't be choosers), if you have a fancy job you have a choice you probably won't take. If pensioners don't like it they should complain to their grandkids to go be lorry drivers. If you frame the Moon as a villain and ask if we should remove it, of course people will say yes. Doesn't make it any less nonsensical though.

ZeroGravitas 2y ago

Seems to be mostly old people and leave voters when you look at the breakdowns. The question is did they arrive at these conclusions ("immigrants are bad, Brexit is good") naturally or through decades of propaganda. And why did one of their votes make their other key concern worse?

like_any_other 2y ago
> Seems to be mostly old people In every single age group, more people think immigration is too high than about right or too low. Significantly more. Using latest poll from 24th March, 2025: 18-24 years: Immigration is: too high: 42%, about right + too low: 35% 25-49 years: Immigration is: too high: 59%, about right + too low: 23% 50-64 years: Immigration is: too high: 79%, about right + too low: 14% 65+ years: Immigration is: too high: 85%, about right + too low: 12% And is the government that is going against the wishes of its populace by implementing ever greater mass immigration, funding propaganda against immigration? As for why Brexit 'caused' increased immigration - you think it is a simple cause-and-effect? Or could it be that there is a government in the way, that enacts immigration policy independently of EU membership?
- ZeroGravitas 2y ago
  The graph is falling gently till about 2021, when free movement with the EU ended, and then rises sharply. At that low point it's only retired ages and up that are suggesting it is too high. At the previous high point the crossover seems to be in the thirties. (Also, Conservatives are another high scoring group, the question asks about 10 years before and starts in 2019 so basically covers the last run of conservative government)
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- dijksterhuis 2y ago
  Do you have a source for this poll you've referenced? The latest yougov poll i can find (from 2023) has significantly different results -- more under 50s responded don't know about immigration levels versus a skew towards too high in the 50+ population. https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Internal_Immigration_Since_Brex_230605_W.pdf https://d3nkl3psvxxpe9.cloudfront.net/documents/Internal_Imm... if the numbers have shifted over time, that's fine. but your 'latest poll' could be a daily mail phone in for all i know.
  - ZeroGravitas 2y ago
    The link is a couple of comments up this chain. Interestingly your link, which I think is part of the same survey series breaks it down into EU and non-EU immigration, and the latter has about a 10-30 point worse score, which can probably explain the scores for generic immigration getting worse immediately after the EU immigration got curtailed. And again, it's the Old/Conservative/Brexit voters who are on the "angrier about non-EU immigration" end of that range. They just keep shooting themselves in the foot.

tomxor 2y ago

It's a stupid question, the whole point of this article is to point out it's not in our control. Sure it's technically in our control but in reality most of us don't seem interested in filling all the necessary jobs to run our own society. We tried it, everything started falling apart, and we fell back on immigration again. A better question would be, would you be willing to become a lorry driver or a cleaner etc to reduce immigration. Then vote with a job application, you'd get a totally different result that reflects economic reality. If you don't work by choice you don't get a vote (beggers can't be choosers), if you have a fancy job you have a choice you probably won't take. If pensioners don't like it they should complain to their grandkids to go be lorry drivers. If you frame the Moon as a villain and ask if we should remove it, of course people will say yes. Doesn't make it any less nonsensical though.