There is an east-west divide in Europe in both public support for same-sex marriage and laws legalizing marriage for same-sex couples.
In France, home to Europe’s largest Jewish population, reports of anti-Semitic incidents rose dramatically in 2018. Prominent though these incidents may be, they run counter to public opinion in France. A 2017 Pew Research Center survey found that a majority of French adults reject negative Jewish stereotypes and express an accepting attitude toward Jews.
To gauge the extent of anti-Jewish sentiment in another way, the survey also asked Western European adults if they would be willing to accept Jews as neighbors or members of their family. Nine-in-ten French adults said they would be willing to accept Jews as neighbors, while roughly three-quarters (76%) said they would accept Jews as members of their family. These figures are at or near the median for the 15 countries where both questions were asked.
Read more: Negative stereotypes about Jews are largely rejected in France
We asked respondents across the European continent whether they agree with the statement, “Our people are not perfect, but our culture is superior to others.” While there are exceptions, Central and Eastern Europeans overall are more inclined to say their culture is superior. The eight countries where this attitude is most prevalent are all geographically in the East: Greece, Georgia, Armenia, Bulgaria, Russia, Bosnia, Romania and Serbia.
This “cultural chauvinism” is just one example of a general East-West pattern in measures of nationalism.
People in Central and Eastern Europe also are more likely than Western Europeans to say being born in their country and having family background there are important to truly share the national identity.
Regardless of populist sentiments, people in Western Europe tend to favor parties that reflect their own ideological orientation. With regard to policy, too, ideology continues to matter. While populist attitudes span the ideological spectrum in Western Europe, populist political parties are relatively unpopular in the region.
The majority of Europe’s Christians are non-practicing, but they differ from religiously unaffiliated people in their views on God, attitudes toward Muslims and immigrants, and opinions about religion’s role in society.
Read our new report on Christianity in Western Europe and read key findings from the report.
In Western Europe, public views of the news media are divided by populist leanings – more than left-right political positions. Across eight countries, those who hold populist views value and trust the news media less, and they also give the media lower marks for coverage of major issues, such as immigration, the economy and crime.
A Pew Research Center analysis of income data from 11 Western European countries finds considerable differences in the fortunes of the middle classes in those countries. Find out where you fall on your country’s income ladder using one of our calculators.
The fortunes of the middle classes in Western Europe’s largest economies are moving in opposite directions. Are you in your European country’s middle class? Find out with our income calculator.
The map above shows the proportion of people within a country that were high income in 2011. Outside of North America and Western Europe, few countries have significant high-income populations. More of Norway’s population is high income—77%—than any other country included in the study.
Worries about extremism are higher across the Western countries surveyed than they are in the Muslim countries surveyed.Overall, a median of 52% across nine Western nations are very concerned about Islamic extremism.