More of those who express fears about minorities have a household income of £25,000-£50,000, poll finds

Britain’s low income masses, often known as the “left behind”, appear not to be the main cause of rising racial and religious tensions, according to research showing middle income earners are more likely to feel threatened by immigrants, Muslims, Gypsies and Travellers.

Nearly four out of 10 people believe immigrants threaten Britain’s future, with 31% worried about Muslim people, 41% believing Gypsies, Roma and Travellers pose a slight or major threat, and 6% concerned about Jewish people, according to a poll. But more of those who express fears about immigrants have a household income of between £25,000 and £50,000 than those who earn least.

Far from wanting to “take back control” most people who fear immigrants also declared themselves very or fairly satisfied with life and said they were completely or mostly able to influence decisions that affect their lives.

The study concludes: “Many who consider Muslims, immigrants, Roma, Gypsy or Travellers to be ‘a threat to Britain’s success and prosperity’ could be described as the winners of the past decades rather than Britain’s left behind.”

The study of the risks of rising identity-based violence as the UK approaches the 29 March deadline for leaving the EU was carried out by Protection Approaches, a non-governmental organisation that seeks to defend people globally who are violently targeted because of their identity. It comes amid growing concern at the proliferation of overt racism online and in communities that poses a puzzle for anyone who has sought to excuse xenophobia as an expression of wider grievances about wealth, inequality and a lack of control by the country’s poorest people.

“We were shocked by the extent to which those prejudiced views seeing minorities as a threat really carries across the full spectrum of society,” said Kate Ferguson, director of research and policy, who oversaw an online poll of 1,250 over-16s carried out on 11 January 2019. “You expect to see people with lower incomes have more prejudiced views, but a third of the respondents who we would consider well-off held those views.” [See footnote]

There has been evidence that Brexit has encouraged racial prejudice. The hate crime reporting project, Tell Mama, recorded a nearly fivefold increase in the number of anti-Muslim incidents in the week following the 2016 EU referendum, and last year the organisation said that from 2015 to 2017 it recorded a steady rise in incidents, not including online abuse.

Last year a third successive record number of antisemitic incidents was recorded by the Community Security Trust. Across England and Wales there was a 122% rise in hate crimes from 2013 to 2018, mostly motivated by race, followed by sexual orientation, religion, disability and being transgender, according to Home Office data.

The report warns that the “left behind” have been conflated with people who fear minorities and that “in attributing the country’s growing problem with racism and prejudice solely or disproportionately to a ‘left-behind’ group, it has become harder to both publicly condemn racism and to discuss its causes”.

“We forecast that if left unchecked, current and emerging negative social trends will continue to gather momentum and lead to further long-term rises of identity-based violence in Britain,” it states.

“Britain must not think itself immune to the threats populist, far-right and anti-human rights movements pose elsewhere in Europe and around the world.”

• This footnote was added on 6 March 2019. After publication of this article Kate Ferguson contacted the Guardian to say her intended meaning was that “many believe” people with lower incomes have more prejudiced views.