According to a new poll carried out by TNS NIPO with 1,100 Dutch adults, Dutch people are less negative about the presence of Muslims. At the same time, however, fewer and fewer Dutch people believe that the integration of Muslims into Dutch society will ultimately be successful. In this most current NIPO survey, only one quarter of those surveyed admitted to negative feelings about the Muslim community – significantly less than forty percent in the 2006 survey. Similarly, only 11 percent perceived Muslims to be threat, compared to 21 percent in 2006. The facts that no large-scale attacks have taken place in the EU and that there has been noticeable reduction in hysteria surrounding Islam, are cited as reasons for the diminished negative responses. However, the NIPO survey also revealed that 70 percent of those questions believed that Muslims will ultimately fail at fully integrating into Dutch society; only 14 percent believed that integration was possible, compared to 21 percent in 2005.
