A DISTURBING new trend is emerging across Europe. Anti-Semitism and xenophobia are on the rise. A growing minority of citizens in several European countries holds unfavorable opinions of Jews. Negative views of Israel, sympathy with the Palestinian cause, rising anti-Americanism, and a backlash against globalization and immigration all play a role in this trend.

Research by the Pew Research Center's Global Attitudes Project, as well as polls by the Anti-Defamation League, make clear that anti-Jewish sentiments are increasing. Granted, the breadth of European anti-Semitism should not be overstated. This rise in negative attitudes toward Jews has for the most part been modest, and anti-Jewish sentiments in Europe remain much less common than anti-Muslim views. Most of the Europeans surveyed by Pew continue to hold favorable opinions of Jews and, compared with other regions of the world, Europeans remain relatively tolerant. For instance, anti-Jewish sentiments are almost universal in the three Arab nations surveyed-95% or more in Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt say they have an unfavorable opinion of Jews.

Though they may be modest trends, in light of the dark history of anti-Semitism in Europe, any uptick is surely troubling. Moreover, rising anti-Jewish views are part of a broader pattern of increasing xenophobia; European attitudes toward Muslims have also turned more negative over the last few years. And in Western Europe, the same groups tend to have the most negative opinions of both Jews and Muslims: the less educated, those over fifty and people on the political right. All these features combined lead to a troubling trend it would be unwise to ignore.

THE STARKEST example of increasingly anti-Jewish views is Spain, where negative ratings have more than doubled since 2005, rising from 21% to 46%-by far the highest negative percentage among the European nations included in Pew's 2008 survey.

Anti-Jewish sentiments are also common-and on the rise-in Poland and Russia, the two Eastern European nations included in the survey. In a 1991 survey by the Times Mirror Center (the predecessor of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press), 34% of Poles had an unfavorable opinion of Jews. But Pew's 2005 poll found that anti-Jewish attitudes had ebbed in Poland since the beginning of the post-Communist era-by 2005 only 27% held a negative view of Jews. Yet, the trend has reversed itself within the last three years. In the 2008 survey, anti-Jewish sentiment has rebounded to 36%, just slightly higher than it was two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall. The percentage of Russians with a negative opinion of Jews was exactly the same in 1991 and 2005-26%-but it has increased over the last three years to 34%.

Negative attitudes toward Jews are only slightly less common in Germany, where one-in-four express an unfavorable view, and in France, where 20% say they have an unfavorable opinion. And in both countries, negative ratings have become somewhat more widespread since 2004.

In Britain, however, anti-Jewish views are relatively rare. Consistently, fewer than 10% of the British express a negative opinion of Jews. The pattern is similar in the United States, where just 7% say they have unfavorable views, the lowest percentage among the twenty-four nations included in the 2008 poll. And in the third predominantly English-speaking nation included on the survey, Australia, negative ratings of Jews are similarly scarce-only 11% of Australians express an unfavorable view.

Like the Pew surveys, recent Anti-Defamation League (ADL) polls of eleven European nations found growing anti-Jewish sentiment. For example, concerns about the loyalty of Jewish citizens and fears of Jewish economic power have become more widespread in France, Poland and Spain. In all three of these countries, between 2005 and 2007 there were significant increases in the number of people who believe Jews are more loyal to Israel than to their home country. Similarly, in all three countries, more people now think Jews have too much power in the business world and that they exercise too much power in international financial markets. The ADL surveys find signs of growing anti-Semitism in other European nations as well, especially Austria, Belgium and Hungary.

IN MANY cases, it is clear these trends are especially strong among certain demographic groups. Those with common ideologies, of similar age groups and with comparable levels of education tend to have similar opinions of Jews.

Countless studies have shown that prejudice and intolerance toward minority groups is more common among people with less education, and anti-Semitism is no different. Both the Pew and ADL surveys find that less educated Europeans are more likely to express negative attitudes toward Jews. Moreover, in the four Western European countries surveyed by Pew in 2006 and 2008-Britain, France, Germany and Spain-nearly all of the rise in anti-Semitic views has occurred among people who have not attended college. Among those who have attended college, there has been little change.

Age is also an indicator of opinions, though the exact relationship varies between the Western and Eastern European countries surveyed by Pew. In Western Europe, people age fifty and older are more likely to voice a negative opinion of Jews than are those under fifty-an age gap of sorts. And anti-Jewish sentiments have increased substantially among these older Western Europeans; in the last two years, up a full seven points in France, Germany and Spain. The reverse is true in the Eastern European countries surveyed-Poles and Russians over fifty are actually less likely to hold a negative opinion of Jews than their younger counterparts.

Political leanings have an impact, too. Anti-Jewish attitudes are more common on the political right. Historically, of course, the most virulent strains of anti-Semitism have erupted on the far right, and in recent years the most caustic anti-Semitic rhetoric in Europe has been found among right-wing nationalist parties, such as Jean-Marie Le Pen's National Front in France, Jörg Haider's Alliance for Austria's Future and Corneliu Vadim Tudor's Greater Romania Party. As Pew's surveys reveal, French, German and Spanish respondents who characterize their beliefs as being on the right side of the political spectrum are somewhat more likely than others to express an unfavorable attitude toward Jewish people. In an analysis of combined data from France, Germany and Spain-the three Western European countries surveyed by Pew where anti-Jewish views are most common and on the rise-34% of people who place themselves on the right of the ideological spectrum hold negative views of Jews, compared with 28% of those on the left and 26% of those in the political center.

Looking only at data from Spain reveals a slightly different pattern there. Those on both ends of the political spectrum are more likely to harbor negative opinions about Jews than those in middle: 55% of people on the right and 53% of those on the left express an unfavorable view, compared with 42% of Spanish centrists.

DEMOGRAPHIC INFLUENCES may account for much, but they cannot capture this evident change in attitudes over the last three years. Many Europeans simply appear to be becoming more xenophobic. It's not just Jews who receive more negative marks these days among European publics. As Pew's surveys in Europe make clear, negative attitudes toward Muslims have also become more common. Since 2005, the percentage of Poles with an unfavorable opinion of Muslims has risen sixteen points (from 30% to 46%), while in Britain there has been a nine-point increase (from 14% to 23%). In Spain, 37% held a negative opinion of Muslims in 2005, compared to 52% today (although this is actually a slight decrease from 2006, when 61% expressed an unfavorable view). Overall, looking across the six European countries surveyed by Pew in 2005 and 2008, the median percentage with a negative view of Jews has jumped from 21% to 30%, while the median percentage expressing an unfavorable opinion of Muslims has increased from 35% to 42%.

Attitudes toward Jews and Muslims tend to correlate with one another-where negative attitudes toward one group are pervasive, negative views of the other group are usually widespread as well. For instance, among the European countries surveyed in 2008, negative views toward both Jews and Muslims are most common in Spain. The increasingly negative views in Spain may be driven in part by the waves of immigration to the country and the changing composition of Spanish society in recent years. On the other hand, negative attitudes toward both groups are least common in Britain. Public opinion in America is very similar to that in Britain-negative opinions of both Jews and Muslims are relatively rare in the United States, compared with other Western nations.

The patterns underlying this xenophobia are similar to the factors contributing to anti-Semitic views-age, education and ideology. In Western Europe, the same demographic groups that voice negative opinions of Jews also tend to express negative views of Muslims: people over age fifty and those who have not attended college. And as is the case with anti-Jewish sentiments, unfavorable opinions of Muslims are more common among respondents who place themselves on the ideological right.

Immigration from predominantly Muslim nations, as well as the assimilation of European Muslim minorities, has been a hot-button issue over the last several years, and seems to correspond to xenophobic and anti-Semitic views. Pew surveyed twelve European nations in 2007-six from Western and six from Eastern Europe-and majorities in all twelve supported tighter restrictions and controls on immigration to their country. Obviously, this issue of immigration is closely linked to attitudes about Muslims in Europe, but Europeans who worry about immigration from North Africa and the Middle East are also particularly likely to have negative attitudes toward Jews. For example, in a 2006 Pew survey, among Germans who consider immigration from North Africa and the Middle East a bad thing, 27% had a negative view of Jews. In contrast, when it comes to people who rate immigration from these regions as a good thing, only 14% hold a negative view of Jews.

The trend seems to hold for immigration in general, not only from Muslim countries. When it comes to immigration from Eastern Europe, Western European attitudes are also linked to opinions about Jews. In the same 2006 poll, Germans who consider immigration from Eastern Europe a bad thing express more negative opinions of Jews (28%) than do those people who say immigration from Eastern Europe is a good thing (14%).

In many ways, this creeping xenophobia may be tied to fears about globalization. In addition to the flow of people across borders, many in the West are increasingly worried about free-flowing trade across borders. While most people in Western nations continue to believe trade is good for their countries, support for it has nonetheless declined significantly in Western Europe, as well as in the United States, since Pew first investigated this issue in 2002. And data from 2008 show a clear relationship between opposition to trade and negative attitudes toward both Jews and Muslims. For instance, in France, 29% of people who consider growing trade and business ties between countries a bad thing have an unfavorable opinion of Jews, compared with 18% of those who favor trade. Similarly, 48% of French respondents who say trade is bad express a negative opinion of Muslims, compared with 35% of trade supporters.

The personal impact of trade has a similar effect. Europeans who believe growing trade and business ties are having a negative impact on their families are more likely to hold negative opinions of both Jews and Muslims. Likewise, people who think foreign ownership of companies in their country is a bad thing are also more likely to give Jews and Muslims negative ratings.

Of course, some of the factors driving negative views toward particular groups such as Jews, Muslims or Eastern Europeans are specific to those groups, rather than necessarily being part of a broader xenophobia encompassing many groups. Negative attitudes toward Muslims, for instance, are driven in part by the perceived threat posed by Islamic extremists in European countries and by the perception that large numbers of European Muslims support al-Qaeda and like-minded groups. Additionally, negativity toward Muslims is linked to the belief that many Muslims in Europe do not attempt to assimilate to European customs. In the same way, attitudes toward Jews are affected by their own unique factors-most importantly, how people feel about Israel.

AND THEN there is anti-Semitism among European Muslims themselves. Though far-right groups have been responsible for the bulk of anti-Semitic incidents in Europe, in recent years, Muslim youth have also been increasingly involved in these acts. The 2008 U.S. State Department report on international religious freedom notes that in Germany, "while most anti-Semitic acts were attributed to neo-Nazi or other right-wing extremist groups or persons, recent anti-Semitic incidents indicated that Muslim youths were increasingly behind attacks on and harassment of Jews."

As a 2006 Pew survey highlights, these acts demonstrate a broader pattern in public opinion; negative attitudes toward Jews are common among European Muslims. Six-in-ten Spanish Muslims held negative views of Jews, as did 47% of Muslims in Britain and 44% in Germany. France, however, is a major exception-just 28% of French Muslims expressed an unfavorable opinion, while about seven-in-ten (71%) had a positive opinion.

While overall negative attitudes toward Jews are quite common among European Muslims, it is also worth noting that they are still not as prevalent as in predominantly Muslim countries surveyed by Pew. In addition, although their population is growing, Muslims still do not comprise a large-enough part of the population in Western European countries to account for the rise in anti-Jewish attitudes.

And just as attitudes toward Muslims and Jews are correlated, people who hold negative opinions of Americans are also especially likely to express negative attitudes toward Jews. The French philosopher André Glucksmann has called anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism "twin brothers." Certainly, Europeans tend to believe U.S. policies lean too much toward Israel. For instance, 62% of the French and 57% of the Germans surveyed by Pew in 2007 said American policies favor Israel too much in the conflict with the Palestinians. Negative views toward both Jews and Americans have increased in tandem across Europe this decade, although negative views of the United States have endured a steeper rise. In Germany, 37% of those who have an unfavorable opinion of Americans also have an unfavorable opinion of Jews, while among those with a favorable opinion of Americans, only 17% voice an unfavorable attitude toward Jews. The same pattern holds true in Britain, France and Spain.

THE ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN conflict is a polarizing issue, not least in Europe where anti-Semitism often goes hand in hand with negative views of Israel, especially when compared to the Palestinians.

Many observers have suggested that European attitudes toward the Middle East conflict shifted after the 1967 Six Day War. As the Economist has described, the war transformed Israel's image-especially on the European left-from "the plucky survivor of the Holocaust keeping powerful neighbours at bay" to that of a "neo-colonial regional superpower."

Pew polls support those findings. To the extent that they favor one side or the other, Western Europeans tend to sympathize more with the Palestinians in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict (although Germany is an exception-34% of Germans sided with Israel in 2007, while 21% favored the Palestinians). In the 2006 Pew survey, conducted after the victory of Hamas in the 2006 Palestinian elections, Western European sympathies had moved a bit in Israel's direction. But by the 2007 poll, conducted after the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, public opinion once again swung back to the Palestinian side. In addition to sympathizing more with the Palestinians, Western Europeans also tend to believe Israel deserves most of the blame for the fact that the Palestinians do not have a state of their own. For example, 49% of the French say Israel is mostly responsible for the lack of a Palestinian state, while 33% primarily blame the Palestinians (18% blame both, someone else or do not offer an opinion).

Those on the political left in Western Europe are especially likely to sympathize with the Palestinians and to blame Israel for the lack of a Palestinian state. Looking again at combined data from France, Germany and Spain, 39% of people who place themselves on the left sympathize with the Palestinians, compared with 29% of centrists and 24% of those on the right. Similarly, 46% of respondents on the left blame Israel for the fact that there is no Palestinian state, while 40% of centrists and 35% of those on the right hold this view.

Among Eastern Europeans, the Middle East conflict is less salient. Many writers have argued that anti-Semitism in former-Eastern-bloc nations has less to do with Israel and is instead of the more "classic" variety. As University of Michigan-political-scientist Andrei Markovits describes it:

The anti-Semitism witnessed in contemporary Eastern Europe is of the classic kind-a continuation of the standard negative tropes, but quite devoid of its anti-Israel and anti-American component so prominent in the western half of the European continent.

Pew surveys suggest that Eastern Europeans are generally less engaged in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In both Russia and Poland, where anti-Jewish views are relatively common, sizable numbers of respondents do not offer an opinion when asked about their sympathies in the conflict or who is to blame for the lack of a Palestinian state.

Many Europeans not only sympathize more with the Palestinians or believe that the intractability of the Middle East conflict is mostly Israel's fault, they also see Israel as a threat to global stability. A 2003 European Union survey of fifteen EU countries generated considerable attention and controversy with its finding that 59% of those interviewed considered Israel "a threat to peace in the world," ranking it above Iran, North Korea and the United States.

A 2004 survey of Germans by Bielefeld University highlights the extent to which some Europeans view Israel as an imperial power violating the human rights of the Palestinians. Roughly eight-in-ten (82%) Germans feel angry when they think about how the Israelis treat the Palestinians; 68% say Israel pursues a war of extermination against the Palestinians; and, remarkably, 51% say what Israel does to the Palestinians is not in principle different from what the Nazis did to the Jews.

There is some evidence that the frequency of anti-Semitic incidents ebbs and flows with the shifting conflicts of the Middle East. A 2007 report by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia suggested that a spike in such incidents may have been linked to periods of increased tensions in the region, noting that:

Dramatic increases in recorded anti-Semitic crime in France, for example in 2002 and 2004, directly reflect periods of heightened conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Palestine, which then manifests itself as anti-Semitism in mainland France.

The European Jewish Committee has also suggested that anti-Semitic violence, as well as anti-Semitic rhetoric, increased during the monthlong clash between Israeli forces and Hezbollah in 2006.

It stands to reason that anti-Israeli views are tied to anti-Semitism. Yale researchers Edward Kaplan and Charles Small have demonstrated this link empirically in their analysis of the ADL survey data, finding that even after controlling for other factors, those who express negative views about Israel are also more likely to express negative views about Jews. Of course, as these authors note, it can be difficult to conceptually disentangle extreme anti-Israeli opinions from anti-Semitism. "Based on this analysis," write Kaplan and Small, "when an individual's criticism of Israel becomes sufficiently severe, it does become reasonable to ask whether such criticism is a mask for underlying anti-Semitism."

WHILE THERE has been a rise in anti-Semitic opinion in Europe, the percentages holding negative opinions toward Jews in most countries studied remain relatively small. However, the recent strong showing by far-right parties in Austria highlights the extent to which extreme views can reach the mainstream of European politics. Moreover, our research suggests that this phenomenon is being fed by a number of important streams of opinion-antiforeigner, anti-Israel, antiglobalization and even anti-Americanism. A dangerous attitude well worth watching, given that it is being fed by such a robust wellspring of public sentiment.

Andrew Kohut is the president of the Pew Research Center, the director of the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, and the director of the Pew Global Attitudes Project. He is also a contributing editor to The National Interest.

Richard Wike is the associate director of the Pew Global Attitudes Project.