Rising prejudice in Australia: New data reveals how attitudes toward Muslim and Jewish communities have shifted
More Australians than ever think immigration levels are too high while confidence in multiculturalism has dipped – a hardening of views driven by people who now say they would vote for One Nation.
Pauline Hanson’s supporters are also the people whose trust in government and politicians is plunging. Anti-establishment views are on the rise, but are more common among Australian-born voters, home owners and people without university education.
The Scanlon Foundation has been taking the temperature of Australian attitudes and social cohesion since 2007. Its latest report with the Australian National University surveyed more than 10,000 people to shed fresh insights into how Australian society has responded to last year’s Bondi attack, the war in the Middle East and worsening economic conditions.
The authors said their findings indicated long-term strains on social cohesion had been amplified by more recent discord. While Australians had been reporting weaker feelings of belonging and declining community involvement for most of this century, this has been compounded in the last three years by sharp falls in support for immigration, diversity and institutions.
“Much of the recent deterioration has been driven by One Nation supporters,” they wrote. “One Nation supporters are also reporting somewhat weaker connections in their neighbourhoods and local communities, less happiness and trust in others, greater financial stress and increasing pessimism for their own futures.
“Although this does not explain everything, it does point to one way in which long-run strains on social cohesion and personal wellbeing are potentially providing the conditions for growing division now.”
Report exposes who holds negative feelings about Muslims, Jews
One of the most striking findings was that attitudes towards Muslim and Jewish people have continued worsening across the political spectrum.
The proportion of Australians with negative attitudes towards Muslims had been declining until the Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023, when they started rising: from 29 per cent in 2022 to 43 per cent in 2026. Views about Muslims were more negative among older and more conservative voters, and this year included three-quarters of people who identified as right-wing.
The proportion of people with negative attitudes towards Jews also increased from 8 per cent in 2022 to 18 per cent in 2026.
While last week’s report by Australia’s Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism singled out political progressives for fuelling a new wave of antisemitism, the Scanlon survey shows negative attitudes towards Jews are more evenly spread across the political spectrum, and the largest increases since 2024 are among people on the right of politics.
“There are two differing patterns of rising prejudice towards Muslim and Jewish people in Australia. Negative views of Jewish people have grown across Australian society. Conversely, negative views towards Muslims have become increasingly concentrated in older Australians and those who identify with the political centre and right,” the report said.
“Both patterns are of concern for social cohesion, and mostly importantly, for the safety and sense of belonging for Muslim and Jewish Australians.”
Majority of Australians now say immigration is too high
Another of the survey’s most significant year-on-year findings is on immigration, the subject of increasingly heated debate in Canberra. Fifty-nine per cent of people this year said immigration to Australia was too high, up from 52 per cent last year and 33 per cent in 2023.
At the same time, the proportion who agreed multiculturalism was good for the country dropped to 76 per cent this year, from 83 per cent last year and 89 per cent in 2023. While a majority of Australians still think migrants from many different countries make Australia stronger, support is dropping: 64 per cent back this view this year, down from 68 per cent last year and 78 per cent in 2023.
This decline over the past three years has coincided with the post-pandemic migration boom, which peaked in 2022-23, but is also increasingly divided along political lines.
The share of One Nation supporters who believe migration is too high rose to 93 per cent from 79 per cent in 2024, while their belief that multiculturalism was good for the country fell to 44 per cent from 63 per cent.
Coalition voters are also increasingly concerned about migration levels, with 66 per cent nominating this issue up from 58 per cent two years ago. Coalition supporter views on multiculturalism, however, have remained steady, as have views among Labor and Greens voters.
The report found some common ground remained.
“Large majorities of voters for all four parties agree that immigrants make good citizens, ranging from 76 per cent of One Nation voters to 94 per cent of Labor and Greens voters,” the report said. There has also been an uptick in pride in Australian life and culture.
But the authors identified differing reasons for people’s concerns. People with high levels of financial stress reported weaker support for multiculturalism and diversity than more affluent people, suggesting that the broader cost-of-living climate was colouring their fears about migration.
At the same time, financially well-off people with conservative political views reported declining support for diversity.
“While rising economic anxiety may chip away at public confidence in immigration, wider social, political and ideological shifts are driving weakening and increasingly polarised support for immigration,” the report said.
“All the same, there remains a strong underlying reservoir of support for diversity, multiculturalism and the contributions of immigrants.”
One Nation voters drive anti-migrant, anti-government sentiment
Cost of living and inflation remain the top concern for more than one third of Australians, including One Nation voters.
But in a sign that immigration is a key issue driving people to One Nation, 23 per cent of Hanson’s voters named it their most important problem. That was compared to just 9 per cent of the total sample who selected immigration as the most important issue, behind those who nominated housing affordability and other economic issues.
A further 14 per cent of One Nation supporters said government and politicians were their biggest problem, compared to 7 per cent who felt that way in the broader population.
The report said rising distrust of government and politicians, which has deepened across the population in the last 12 months, is being driven by One Nation supporters.
Just 9 per cent of One Nation supporters trust the current government to do the right thing by Australians most of the time – a figure that halved from 18 per cent in 2025 – while more than 60 per cent of Labor supports have retained trust in the government. For Greens and Coalition voters, it was about 29 per cent.
Almost two-thirds of One Nation voters think government leaders abuse their power most of the time, while only about one third of them think elections are fair and the courts make impartial decisions most of the time – the lowest trust levels of all political affiliations.
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Natassia Chrysanthos is Federal Political Correspondent. She has previously reported on immigration, health, social issues and the NDIS from Parliament House in Canberra.Connect via X or email.
