Kim Hjelmgaard

USA TODAY

BERLIN — European politicians were among the harshest critics of President Trump's temporary ban on immigration from seven countries with Muslim majorities. Research, however, shows a majority of European people would applaud similar measures.

Fifty-five percent of 10,000 people surveyed in 10 European countries support the idea that all further migration from mainly Muslim countries should be stopped, according to a new study conducted by Chatham House, a well-respected London-based foreign affairs think tank.

"Our results are striking and sobering," the researchers write about the survey, carried out before Trump's executive order was announced. "They suggest that public opposition to any further migration from predominantly Muslim states is by no means confined to Trump’s electorate in the U.S. but is fairly widespread."

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According to a Morning Consult/Politico survey of U.S. registered voters this week, even as Trump's approval ratings have soured since he has taken office, a similar number of Americans — 55% — approve of his order on immigration that bans refugees from entering the U.S. for 120 days and Syrians indefinitely.

But the Chatham House study found that public opposition in Europe to further immigration from Muslim areas is especially intense in some European countries despite the sharp backlash it has generated among many of the region's leaders.

It ranges from as high as 71% in Poland to 41% in Spain.

In Germany, which welcomed nearly a million asylum seekers last year from predominantly Muslim countries, it is 53%. So strong was German Chancellor Angela Merkel's opposition to Trump's ban, the study notes, that she "explained the United Nations Refugee Convention to the president in a phone call discussing the order."

French President François Hollande, one of the earliest European voices to forcefully express disapproval of the move, said he informed Trump of his "conviction that the ongoing fight to defend our democracy will be effective only if we sign up to respect to the founding principles and, in particular, the welcoming of refugees."

There has been broad condemnation in the U.S. from Trump's political opponents, rights groups and prominent figures, as well as from some Republicans, such as Sen. John McCain and Sen. Lindsey Graham. The Chatham House study reflects, the authors say, not just an "underlying reservoir of public support" for Trump in Europe but also for "leaders of Europe's populist right-wing parties, including Geert Wilders (Netherlands), Nigel Farage (Britain) and Matteo Salvini (Italy)."

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Public opposition to further migration from Muslim-majority nations was particularly strong in Austria (65%), Hungary (64%), France (61%) and Belgium (64%) — all countries that in recent years have either been at the center of Europe's refugee crisis or seen major terrorist attacks linked to nationals from mainly Muslim countries.

In all 10 countries surveyed the percentage of people who endorsed a migration ban never dropped below 32%. Opposition to Muslim immigration was especially pronounced among older, retired Europeans while those aged below 30 were less opposed. There was also an educational divide. Less than half of people with college degrees agreed with the idea of curbing immigration. Fifty-nine percent of people without college degrees in the countries surveyed would back a Trump-style initiative.

​László Toroczkai, the mayor of Ásotthalom, Hungary — not mentioned in the Chatham House study — has sought to ban Muslims altogether from his remote village. During the height of Europe's migration crisis in 2015 as many as 10,000 asylum seekers crossed from Serbia into Hungary each day near Ásotthalom.

In addition, Toroczkai has outlawed the Muslim call to prayer and wearing Muslim dress such as the hijab. He also wants to introduce legislation preventing mosques from being built. Ásotthalom, population 4,191, has two Muslim residents.

"It’s very important for the village to preserve its traditions," he said in a recent interview with the BBC. "Europe is small. It can’t take in billions of people from Africa and South Asia, where there’s a population boom. This would soon lead to the disappearance of Europe."

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