Founded only in 2000, YouGov has rapidly become one of the best-known polling companies in contemporary Britain. It operates mainly via online interviews among a panel of more than 250,000 adults aged 18 and over.
Although YouGov has undertaken relatively few religion-specific surveys, relevant questions often lie buried among some of its more general studies. The following data on attitudes to Islam and Muslims have been taken from the tabulations of recent polls posted at:
http://www.yougov.co.uk/corporate/archives/press-archives-intro.asp
- Only 13% of all adults feel that most Muslims are integrated into British society, 60% maintaining that many lead completely separate lives and a further 21% that most lead completely separate lives (fieldwork 12-13 November 2009, n= 2,026)
- 80% of all adults support Government’s recent decision to ban the radical group Islam4UK, which was planning to hold a march through Wootton Bassett in protest at the war in Afghanistan, while 14% disagree, arguing that freedom of speech is more important (fieldwork 14-15 January 2010, n= 2,033)
- 81% of all adults consider that Anjem Choudary, Islam4UK’s spokesperson, is cynically abusing the benefits system by claiming £25,000 a year in benefits, despite being a qualified lawyer (fieldwork 14-15 January 2010, n= 2,033)
- 32% of all adults are worried that they and their immediate family might be victims of an attack by Islamic terrorists in Britain, whereas 64% are not concerned (fieldwork 5-7 January 2010, n= 10,344)
- 62% of all adults are convinced that Islamic terrorism is a slightly or much bigger problem for Britain than other Western countries, with 29% thinking it is no worse a problem (fieldwork 5-7 January 2010, n= 10,344)
- Of adults believing Islamic terrorism to be a worse problem for Britain, 38% attribute this to Britain’s relationship with the USA, 35% to the failure to punish or expel Islamic radicals who preach violence, and 24% to the number of Muslim immigrants in Britain (fieldwork 5-7 January 2010, n= 10,344)
- 42% of young people aged 14-25 believe that Muslims often suffer unfair discrimination in Britain, as against 20% thinking this to be true of the Jews, the other religious group enquired about – the numbers feeling they received unfair advantage were 21% and 5% respectively (fieldwork 18-25 November 2009, n= 3,994)
