BREAKING THE NEWS

FEAR OF THE MISUNDERSTOOD. ISLAMOPHOBIA.

How well do you understand Islam?

40%

18 - 29

65+

we ll

ure ts

tt

oo

No

at all

we ll No

No t

too

we ll de rat ely

ry we ll

Mo

Ex

tre

Ve

me ly

we ll

0%

Interested in learning more?

I would be interested in learning more about Islam I would NOT be interested in learning more about Islam Not sure

Very favourable 18 - 29

Somewhat favourable

65+

Somewhat unfavourable Very unfavourable Not sure 18 - 29

65+

Donald Trump’s call for a ban on Muslims might sound outrageous, but it could appeal to the 55% of Americans who voice an unfavorable opinion of Islam.

Who exactly was Donald Trump appealing to when he called on Monday for a “total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States” ? Quite a few people, according to a YouGov poll conducted earlier this year, which found that 55% of surveyed Americans had an “unfavorable” opinion of Islam. Looking closer at those respondents, Islamophobic sentiments are more common among Americans who are 45 and older, those who are

Republican and those who are white. Attitudes toward Islam and attitudes toward Muslims should be considered separately – however, studies suggests that the two overlap considerably, as many people fail to distinguish between the two. In 2014, Pew Research Center, published a large study about American attitudes towards individuals of different faiths. Over 3,000 US respondents were asked to rate members of religious groups using a “feeling

thermometer” that ranged from 0 to 100: 0 indicated the coldest, most negative possible rating and 100 the warmest, most positive rating. Muslims scored just 40.

That score excludes Muslim respondents’ views about other Muslims. The only other group to fare similarly badly were atheists as rated by religious respondents – they too scored 40. There is however an important difference between those two scores: there are far more atheists in America

than there are Muslims. Since the Census Bureau is prohibited by law from asking about religious affiliation, Pew surveys are the main source on America’s religious makeup. Their 2015 data shows that 3% of Americans identify as atheist (as well as 4% who say they’re agnostic and 16% who say they’re nothing in particular).

By contrast, just under 1% of Americans identify as Muslim – although estimates vary widely and are partly dependent on

Muslims’ willingness to identify with the label to interviewers.

Those two percentages – the number of Americans who dislike Muslims and the number of Americans who are Muslim – suggest that Trump would not have had the same receptive audience had he singled out any other religious group.

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I was educated in the same class as Muslim pupils at school.

“The UK should be a place of refuge for Syrian refugees and other victims of conflict from the middle east.”

0%

60%

40%

50% 40% 30%

Strongly agree

20%

50% of 18-24 year olds, either tend to agree or strongly agree.

Tend to agree

10% 0%

18 - 24

55+

I have close relatives and/or friends who are Muslims.

35% 30%

Neutral

56% of those 55 and over, either tend to disagree or strongly disagree.

Tend to disagree

“People fear what they don’t understand and hate what they can’t conquer.”

25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0%

18 - 24

55+

- Andrew Smith I have never had close contact with Muslims during my education, leisure time or professional life.

Strongly disagree 60% 40% 20%

Don’t know

0%

18 - 24

So far, much of Trump’s antiMuslim rhetoric has focused on security. That’s smart. When Brits were asked this year what words they think of when they hear the word Muslim, their most common responses were “terror”, “terrorism” and “terrorist”.

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It’s also relevant that when individuals (again often white, often Republican) were trying to undermine Barack Obama’s credibility in 2004 and claim that he could not be trusted, they said he was a secret Muslim. Hostility toward Muslims in America exists alongside a lack of familiarity with Muslims. The YouGov poll that looked at unfavorable attitudes also asked respondents: “Do you personally happen to work with anyone who is Muslim?” – 74% saino. The survey also asked whether respondents “happen to have any friends who are Muslim” – 68% said no. Another 87% said they had never been inside

a mosque. Across all religions, there is a correlation between the percentage of respondents who say they know members of a faith, and the percentage who say they have favorable attitudes towards members of that faith. Muslim Americans are well aware of negative attitudes towards them.

The last time Pew conducted a survey that sought out only Muslim respondents, in 2011, they found that negative experiences were common: 28% said that in the past year, people had acted suspiciously of them, 22% said they had been called offensive names and 21% said they had been singled out by airport security.

It’s not clear whether rhetoric like that expressed by Donald Trump fuels anti-Muslim sentiment in the US or merely taps into exi sti ng negati ve feel i ngs towards Muslims. What is clear is that when Trump endorsed a database to track Muslims in the US at the end of November, his popularity jumped almost 3 percentage points. Indeed, a YouGov survey conducted in the days after Trump’s comments found that 40% of Americans supported a national registry of Muslims. Yet again, those views were more commonly held among older respondents and those who were Republican.

55+

Those individuals who hold unfavorable opinions of American Muslims – whether through fear, unfamiliarity or some other reason – may yet have a problem on their hands. Demographic changes mean that America is set to become a more diverse country in terms of race as well as religion.

Pew estimates that by 2050, the percentage of Americans who identify as Muslim will grow from 0.9% to 2.1%, since Muslims and followers of “other religions” are the fastest-growing religious groups in the country.

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