Immigration concerns among Spaniards has increased over the past year, with a new poll showing that 57% of population believe there are too many immigrants in the country.

A recent survey conducted by the 40dB Institute for El País and Cadena SER reveals that 75% of Spaniards associate immigration with negative concepts such as insecurity, crime and overburdened public services. The rise in concerns – up 16 points in the last year and a half – reflects a significant shift at a time when the migrant crisis is at the forefront of public discourse, particularly in the Canary Islands.

Immigration was described as a major concern by 41% of those polled, with growing unease particularly prevalent among Generation Z men, who broadly agree with Vox leader Santiago Abascal’s description of the current migration crisis as an „invasion”, and with centre-right opposition leader Alberto Nunez Feijoo, who linked immigration to crime and called for mass deportations.

The survey shows significant differences of opinion based on political affiliation. Among hard-right SALF supporters 93.4% say there are too many immigrants, with Vox supporters closely behind at 86.1%. However, 4 in 10 left-wing PSOE voters (41 per cent) also share the view that there are too many immigrants, while 27.7 per cent of Sumar voters and 24.2 per cent of Podemos voters also agree, Remix News reports.

The majority of respondents (74.8 per cent) associate immigration with various negative consequences, such as increased insecurity (29.5 per cent), a strain on public services (27.2 per cent), social division (21.2 per cent) and crime (19.2 per cent). A significant proportion also associate immigration with unemployment (16.7 per cent) and „loss of cultural identity” (7.6 per cent). Another interesting finding of the survey is that one in four Spaniards would stop immigration from the Maghreb countries of North Africa, while one in six would restrict immigration from sub-Saharan Africa.