One In Every 7 Britons Under 25 Supports ISIS
HOW are ISIS doing in the opinion polls? The Times:
One in seven young British adults has “warm feelings” towards Islamic State, according to a poll. Isis is riding a surge of “anti-politics” sentiment among disaffected under-35s who admire the jihadists’ courage, academics warn.
A tenth of Londoners and one in 12 Scots view Islamic State (Isis) favourably, but sympathy for the militant group reaches its highest levels among the under-25s, the Populus survey found.
It might just be rebellion:
In the first rigorous poll to test the UK’s feelings about Isis, 2,000 adults were asked to rank several countries and terrorist organisations on a scale of one to ten, according to how “warmly and favourably” they felt about them. Although an overwhelming majority of the public — 88 per cent — gave Isis a low score, 5.2 per cent of 18 to 34-year-olds gave it a nine or a ten. Overall, 14 per cent of under-25s and 12 per cent of 25 to 34-year-olds gave Islamic State a score of between six and ten, implying a degree of sympathy.
Experts said that the young people who admire Isis would probably include a small but significant number of non-Muslims disillusioned with the government and its foreign policy, as well as a core of Islamists.
Jonathan Githens-Mazer, associate professor in Arab and Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter, said that the sympathy for Isis came at the crest of a digital revolution that had “changed everything”. Many under-35s had a deeply ingrained scepticism of Westminster and the media, turning instead to blogs promoting dissident and “anti-political” ideas, he said. “There’s a big trend here, which is what happens to the state — and does the state matter any more? It fits in with British scepticism about the EU.”
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Posted: 31st, October 2014 | In: Politicians Comment (1) | TrackBack | Permalink
