Or, differently put: You can’t just pick out a random signifier, such as “Muslim”, and expect the numbers to tell you much.

It’s a good shorthand that allows us to see what, say, Germans think of an archetypical Other.

It’s also important to distinguish anti-immigration vs. anti-immigrant sentiment. Especially in the East with its overall low percentage of foreigners (which, yet, grew much faster than it ever did in the west so people had less time to get used to it), it’s often “we don’t want more” in unison with “we really like Hasan he’s the only one raising the village’s flag on Sunday, the only place where you can go, and he makes really good food”.

My dude don’t try to convince me that “ban Muslim immigration” and “we really like Hasan” are compatible statements except in a “he’s one of the good ones” kind of way. “We don’t want more” can only come from someone who believes immigrants are a problem that needs to be solved.