British public favor burka ban: Poll reveals

Twice as many British people support a ban on women wearing a burka than oppose one, with a majority also in favor of outlawing the burkini, according to a poll published Thursday.

Some 57% of the 1,668 adults polled by YouGov said they supported “a law that bans people from wearing the burqa in the UK”, with 36% “strongly supporting” the ban compared with only 10% who were “strongly opposed”.

The poll comes following a row in France about the banning of the burkini in around 30 coastal resorts in the Riviera.

The country’s highest administrative court later suspended the ruling after it was challenged by rights groups.

Some 46% of British people would support a similar ban on the burkini, against 30% who were opposed, with 18% neither for or against.

Support for the ban on the burka, worn by women in some Islamic traditions to hide the body and face, was uniform across supporters of all political parties, although strongest among Conservative and UK Independence Party backers.

The only demographics to oppose the ban were 18-24 year-olds - by a margin of six% - and those who voted to remain in the European Union, but only by a margin of three percent.

The ban was also supported across the regions, with 51% of Londoners and 63% of northerners in favor.

A similar YouGov survey in Germany found 62% in support of a burqa ban, but another in the United States found that 59% believed “people should be allowed to decide for themselves what to wear.”