Poll for Sun front page was conducted 'using list of Muslim names'

Controversial methodology raises questions over how representative the poll is

The minaret and dome of the Birmingham Central Mosque (Getty)

The poll behind a Sun newspaper front page claiming to reveal “1 in 5 Brit Muslims’ sympathy for jihadis” was conducted by phoning up people from a list of “Muslim names”, it has been reported.

The controversial methodology has raised questions as to just how representative the poll can be of Britain’s 2.7 million Muslims.

The newspaper has already been accused of misinterpreting the poll in its headline, because the original question put to 1,000 people used vague wording and made no actual reference to “jihadis” or “Isis”.

And according to a report in The Guardian, the Sun’s regular pollster YouGov turned down the job for Monday’s front page story because it would be too expensive to carry out the survey properly.

The Sun's controversial front page

Survation told The Guardian it filtered the 42 million profiles on its database down to just those matching a set of 1,500 common “Muslim surnames”. Those contacted were then asked to confirm they were Muslim before proceeding with the survey.

The Sun’s front page has since attracted a record number of complaints to the press industry watchdog, the Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), since it opened for business in September 2014.

Ipso received 450 complaints for the story – more than the 400 received after Sun columnist Katie Hopkins described refugees as “cockroaches” in an article in April.

It has also sparked a parody trend on Twitter under the hashtag "#1in5Muslims". Examples included: "#1in5Muslims are lucky enough not to have a red squiggly line under their name in Microsoft Word."

And the article provoked a furious response from the Muslim Council of Britain which accused the paper of “sensationalising” the findings.

On Monday night, a spokesman for the Sun told this newspaper: “We would all love to see British Muslims back peace and condemn Isis with one voice. That is simply not the reality - and it does our nation no good trying to pretend it is.

“Among British Muslims, a minority – but a very substantial one – is sympathetic to a death cult which is among the most evil in history. Once we all accept that, Britain is better placed to tackle it.”