Last sunday Feburary 9th, Swiss people were asked to vote “against mass immigration. Some people have advanced the hypothesis that Cantons in which there is a high percentage of immigrants, they would vote in support of developing laws to prevent mass immigration. This graph seems to show quite the oppoisite!
Beside the exception of Ticino, cantons which have high immigration rates, such as Geneva, Basel, Valais and Neuchatel voted against the implementation of laws to prevent mass immigration. On the contrary, in Cantons with low immigration rates, such as Schwyz and Appenzell Innerrhoden (which was also the last Canton to grant women the vote in 1991!) up to 65% of the population voted to develop measures to block mass immigration.
Are you surprised? Actually numerous studies show that the people are afraid of what they don’t know… so the more contacts and exposures you have with foreigners, the more you appreciate them.
Sabrina Bresciani, Ph.D. 