Australians divided on support for Trump-style travel ban

Australians are divided on whether or not they would support a travel ban on citizens from Muslim-majority nations, similar to that introduced in the US by President Donald Trump, according to a poll released on Tuesday.

Newspoll showed that 44 per cent of Australians would support a similar travel ban, while 45 per cent are against the measures which have caused controversy across the world, Xinhua news agency reported.

Just over one in 10 of those surveyed were undecided on the issue.

Conservative voters were the most likely to support a Trump-style halt on immigration in Australia; 52 per cent of coalition (Liberal and National) voters said they would support an Australian version of Trump's executive order halting all movements to the US by citizens of Iran, Iraq, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen.

In addition, 34 per cent of Labor voters were also in favour of the ban, while 55 per cent were against the idea.

Meanwhile in a separate poll taken by Essential, the same question was posed to voters with similar support levels; 41 per cent of respondents supported a ban while 46 per cent opposed, with 14 per cent undecided.

However when those polled were specifically asked whether or not they support Trump's executive order, the support level dropped 5 points to 36 per cent while disapproval rate rose to 49 per cent.

The poll follows news that Australia's Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull declined to join a slew of condemnation regarding Trump's executive order when it was first enforced.

Leaders from other leading Western nations including Germany, Britain and Canada all denounced the ban, while Turnbull said it was not "his job" to interfere in the US "domestic policies".

--IANS

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