49.7% of the Danes think that the immigration of the past four decades has been positive for Danish society and 42.4% see immigration as a negative phenomenon, according to an opinion poll conducted by Rambøll/Analyse Danmark for Jyllands-Posten.
While a small majority welcomes immigration, many Danes don't like the presence of Islam in Denmark. 54.9% of the respondents see the presence of Islam as a problem for the cohesion of Danish society.
Professor Jens Peter Frølund Thomsen of Aarhus University, who had researched the relationship between Danes and immigrants says that it is surprising that 42% see immigration as negative at a time when more immigrants are working and when politicians reined in the inflow. Close to half of the Danes have a vehement aversion to immigration. He adds that the fear of Islam and Muslims appeared in the past 10 years.
Imran Shah, spokesperson for the Islamic Faith Society says that people are positive about immigration because they can see that immigrants, like her own father, helped establish the welfare society by taking the job that Danes didn't want. But there's a basic ignorance about Islam, and people have trouble differentiating between culture and religion.
