More Australians have negative views of Jews, but Christians and Muslims fare worse

Australia remains at its lowest level of social cohesion in recorded history, with support for multiculturalism falling and suspicion of religious communities on the rise.

The annual survey by the Scanlon Foundation found Australians’ sense of belonging and connection is at its equal lowest level since the project started in 2007.

Almost half of Australians (48%) have negative attitudes to people of a religion different from their own, up from 38% in 2023.

Negative attitudes towards Jewish people have increased, but they are still low: up from 9% in 2023 to 13% in 2024.

Negative attitudes to Christians are a little higher, having increased from 16% to 19%.

But negative attitudes to Muslims are much higher, with one in three (34%) of adults saying they have a somewhat or very negative attitude towards Muslims. This figure increased from 27% in July 2023, before the current conflict in the Middle East, although it is lower than the highest recorded level of 40% in 2019.

In the context of the conflict in the Middle East, negative attitudes to Muslim and Jewish people have polarised politically. When the Mapping Social Cohesion survey was conducted in July 2024, approximately one half (54%) of right-wing people said they have a somewhat or very negative attitude to Muslims, significantly higher than the proportion for those in the political centre (32%) and on the left (24%).