America likes Muslims better now than before 9/11

[ziggytrix]

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...072601290.html

Poll: Fewer People Link Islam, Violence

By WILL LESTER
The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 26, 2005; 4:14 PM

WASHINGTON -- The percentage of Americans who believe Islam is more likely than other religions to inspire violence has declined in the past two years, according to a poll taken after the London bombings.

Just over a third, 36 percent, now say the Islamic religion is more likely to inspire violence, while 44 percent said that in July 2003, according to the poll conducted by the Pew Research Center and the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.


"This may have to do with some backing off of negative opinions the American public had of Muslims in 2002 and 2003," said Andrew Kohut, director of the Pew Research Center.

The poll found that recent terrorist bombings in London have had no noticeable impact on the public's view of Muslim-Americans or of Islam.

Just over half in the poll, 55 percent, said they have a positive view of Muslim-Americans. That's roughly the same number who felt that way in July 2003 and higher than the number who said they have a positive view of Muslim-Americans in March 2001, before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

About the same number in the poll, 57 percent, said they have a favorable view of evangelical Christians. Three-fourths had favorable views of Jews and Catholics.

"The more people know about Islam, the less critical they are," said Kohut.

People who were more knowledgeable about Islam tended to have a more positive view of Muslim-Americans and their religion. Only a third of Americans said they have some knowledge or a lot of knowledge about Islam.

Americans' views of Islam were less positive than their views of Muslim-Americans. Four in 10 now say they have a favorable view of Islam, while 36 percent have an unfavorable view _ numbers that are virtually unchanged since March 2002. White evangelicals, especially those who are the most devout, were least likely to have a favorable view of Islam.

Of those polled, 60 percent said the terrorist attacks represent a conflict with a small radical group. Only one-fourth of those polled said they think it is likely to grow into a major world conflict.

The poll of 2,000 adults was taken from July 7-17 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

___

On the Net:

Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life: http://www.pewforum.org

Nice.

[KevinTheOmnivore]

I'd never expect such a poll from Pew.

Well, whether it's accurate or not, that's nice I guess. Now it would be nice to see muslims around the world say the same thing about us. :P