This article presents reflections on public opinion surveys that explore the image of migrants, foreigners, intolerance, and interactions with migrants and some other marginalised social groups. The introduction points out that the aversion to migrants in public opinion surveys is not accidental, but among others results from the working of public policies (or the lack thereof), which 'legitimise' the exclusion of migrants, because they do not efficiently prevent discriminatory practices. Such policies reflect a deeply rooted aversion to 'foreigners', i.e. those who are culturally different and whose political participation is limited or prevented based on their distinctive cultural otherness. Statements of intolerance in public opinions and in media presentations of migrants have become 'common practice' in response to people of different identities. The article analyses public opinion surveys in two temporal cross-sections: a focused survey performed in Slovenia in 2007 and a comparative analysis in Europe from 2008. Through these two cross surveys, we explore the attitude of the Slovene public to modern forms of migration in the local and wider (European) areas and respondents' opinions to phenomena of intolerance, social distance, and social interactions.
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