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Many Americans Take Dim View of Islam, Poll Shows
A majority of Americans have an unfavorable impression of Islam, alone among major religions, a new poll finds.
The survey by the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies found 53 percent of Americans view Islam unfavorably compared with 42 percent who view the religion favorably. Majorities view other major religions favorably: 91 percent for Christianity, 71 percent for Judaism and 58 percent for Buddhism.
The negativity comes even as 63 percent of Americans said they know little about Islam.
Dalia Mogahed, executive director of the Gallup center, said that, while other religious extremists are portrayed as being outside the mainstream, Islamic terrorists are described as representatives of their religion.
“Where a deranged person of a certain faith commits a crime in the name of their faith, we look at these incidents as someone misinterpreting faith,” Mogahed said. “When a terrorist commits an act of violence in the name of Islam, it is often times framed as being devoted to the faith rather than being deviant.”
That view is fed by commentators voicing anti-Islamic rhetoric in a way that would cause them to be called bigots and kept off the airwaves if they talked the same way about other minorities, said James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute.
“Arab- and Muslim-bashing is the one bigotry that’s acceptable,” Zogby said.
Although much attention was given to Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who is charged with trying to blow up a Northwest Airlines airliner, little attention was paid to a Muslim-led demonstration outside the courthouse where Abdulmutallab was arraigned, Zogby said. The protesters condemned those who would commit terrorist acts in the name of Islam.
The telephone poll of 1,002 adults was taken Oct. 31 to Nov. 13, 2009, and had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percentage points.
Jonathan D. Salant
Bloomberg News