Half of Ukip voters say they are prejudiced against people of other races

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Around half of Ukip voters say they are prejudiced against people of other races, new opinion research has found.

When Ukip voters were asked by the pollster YouGov whether they would describe themselves as prejudiced “against people of other races”, only 49 per cent said they were not prejudiced.

42 per cent of the party’s supporters admitted to being “a little prejudiced” while 6 per cent said they were “very prejudiced” – a total of 48 per cent.

The results of the poll suggest that Ukip voters admit to being significantly more racially prejudiced than the population as a whole.

Around a quarter (26 per cent) of the general population said they were slightly racially prejudiced, just over half the number of Ukip voters.

Sixty per cent of Conservatives said they were not prejudiced, 72 per cent of Labour voters, and 73 per cent of Liberal Democrats.

Many of Ukip’s supporters who admitted to being “racially prejudiced” somehow insisted they were not “racist”, however.

When asked directly in a separate question whether they held “racist” views, 28 per cent, significantly fewer, said they did – while 64 per cent said they did not.

The latest in an endless stream of race rows rocking Ukip involved an ex-councillor for the party saying she dislikes what she called ‘negroid features’.

Rozanne Duncan was expelled from the party, claiming she was “no racist” and that she felt “betrayed” by the Ukip leadership.

Ukip voters were also twice as likely as Conservative or Labour supporters to say they held anti-Semitic views.

Eight per cent of Ukip voters admitted to being anti-Semitic, compared to 3 per cent of Conservatives and 3 per cent of Labour supporters.

The group which admitted to being most anti-Semitic were the Liberal Democrat voters, 9 per cent of which said they held such views.

The poll was carried out by YouGov for the Sunday Times. Fieldwork was conducted on the 19th and 20th of February.