Majority of Europeans want Muslim immigration stopped: Poll

European leaders were quick to denounce President Trump when he advocated a temporary ban on all Muslim immigration to the U.S. during the presidential campaign, but a new poll shows their own constituencies strongly support the idea.

The Chatham House survey published on Tuesday found 55 percent of Europeans from 10 different nations agree that Muslim immigration should be stopped. Just 20 percent say they want migration from the Islamic world to continue, while 25 percent neither agree nor disagree.

Majorities in all but two of the 10 states surveyed agree that “further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped.”

The poll caught the attention of Mr. Trump, who tweeted out the results of the poll on his own, closely followed Twitter account Wednesday afternoon.

The country most opposed to continued Muslim immigration is Poland, where 71 percent of those polled say it should be halted, compared to 19 percent who favor allowing inflows to continue.

Sixty-five percent of Austrians also agree Muslim immigration should be stopped, along with 64 percent in both Belgium and Hungary, 61 percent in France, 58 percent in Greece, 53 percent in Germany and 51 percent in Italy.

Pluralities in Britain and Spain — 47 percent and 41 percent, respectively — also agree that Muslim immigration should be stopped.

The country most opposed to halting Muslim immigration is Spain, and even there just 32 percent are against the idea. Opposition fails to crack 20 percent in most European Union nations, which have seen far greater flows from Syria, Afghanistan and other nations than has the U.S.

Mr. Trump floated the idea of a ban on Muslim migration during the presidential campaign, but backed off of the idea shortly thereafter amid widespread opposition, saying he now advocated “extreme vetting” from countries with records of terrorism or whose internal immigration controls are weak.

Upon taking office, he signed an executive order temporarily halting refugee inflows into the United States until sufficient security measures can be implemented. The order also temporarily banned travel from seven Muslim-majority nations — an order that is on hold amid a fierce court battle over its constitutionality.

The Chatham House poll surveyed 10,195 adults from 10 European nations from Dec. 12, 2016, to Jan. 11, 2017. Roughly 1,000 respondents came from each country.