In fact, almost half of the Muslim-Americans queried faulted their own leaders for failing to sufficiently challenge Islamic extremists. Only 34 percent said Muslim leaders in the United States were speaking out enough against Islamic extremists while 48 percent said they were not doing enough.
The poll also found that Muslim-Americans are almost boringly American. They simply are not significantly different from ChristianAmericans in their attitudes, goal and desires.
The poll was taken from April through July by Pew Research, one of the country’s leading polling organizations.
Astoundingly, the poll, found Muslim-Americans far more happy
with the way things are going in the United States than non-Muslims by a margin of two-to-one. While only 23 percent of the general public was happy with the way things are going, 56 percent of Muslims were pleased.
Although 43 percent of Muslim-Americans reported some instance of discrimination in the past year, the vast majority also saw such discrimination as the actions of an intolerant minority, not the action of American society.
A total of 48 percent saw Americans as friendly to Muslims while another 32 percent saw them as neutral. Only 16 percent said they believed Americans are generally unfriendly to Muslim-Americans.
But there were very important subsets: two-thirds of those born in the Middle East and Pakistan saw Americans as friendly, but only 20 percent of native-born African-American Muslims and only 37 percent of other American-born Muslims saw Americans as friendly. The African-American posture may be explained by the fact that Islam has tended to attract those American blacks least comfortable in American society. But why do other native-born Muslims, mainly the offspring of immigrants, perceive a higher level of hostility?
Asked if they had experienced any hostile acts in the last year, only 30 percent of Pakistanis reported such problems while 61 percent of native-born white Muslims so reported. Is it possible native born Americans have a higher standard about how they should be treated precisely because they were brought up as Americans, while Pakistanis are just more accepting of discrimination as a fact of life?
Perhaps the most interesting outcome of the poll was that it showed Muslim-Americans to be—well, very American.
A classic American-defining belief is that hard work will get one ahead—the Protestant work ethic. The poll asked Muslim-Americans if they believed that—74 percent said yes. That makes Muslim-Americans more American than non-Muslim Americans, only 62 percent of whom believe hard work will get them ahead.
A majority of 56 percent of Muslim-Americans say most Muslims who come to the United States want to adopt US customs and the American way of life. In contrast, only 33 percent of the general public believes that Muslim-Americans want to assimilate and become Americans. That may be the biggest challenge that American-Muslims face. Many Americans think Muslims are different because they reject American ways.
Are you concerned about the rise of Islamic extremism around the world? Of the general American public, 73 percent are concerned. Among American Muslims, 72 percent are concerned.
The poll asked Muslims if they thought of themselves as Muslim first or American first. That copies a question in an earlier poll asking Christians if they thought of themselves as Christian first or American first. A total of 46 percent of Christians said they were Christian first, while 49 percent of Muslims were Muslims first—an almost identical result. Among white evangelicals, 70 percent said they were Christians first.
Muslim-Americans look pretty much like other Americans. Comparable proportions say they watch entertainment shows on television, follow sports, recycle, play video games and help out neighbors.
On religion, 69 percent of Muslims and 70 percent of Christians say their religion is very important to them. Is there a conflict between being devout and living in modern society, 31 percent of Muslims say yes—and 31 percent of Christians also say yes.
Some 47 percent of Muslims and 45 percent of Christians say they attend religious services at least once a week. But only 22 percent of Shias report attending weekly services while 64 percent of Evangelical Protestants report weekly attendance.
On homosexuality, however, 39 percent of Muslims but 58 percent of the general public say gays and lesbians should be accepted as what they are.
Virtually all Muslim Americans think women should be able to work outside the home, contrary to the common view among Muslim baiters in the United States who say Muslims are misogynists.
Muslim Americans, however, are far more likely to say they are Democrats and 76 percent approve of the job President Obama is doing while only 46 percent of the general public does so.
Muslim Americans are different from Muslims in most majority Muslim countries in significant political beliefs. Muslim Americans by 81 percent say the use of violence against civilians is never justified, while majorities in most Middle Eastern countries say it is justified at least occasionally.
A majority of 62 percent of Muslim Americans believe a way can be found for Israel and Palestine to co-exist side-by-side, a percentage unseen in the Middle East—but one that is almost identical to the 67 percent of the American general population that believes so.
A final poll question goes into the good chuckle file. Asked, “Do you happen to know Obama’s religion?” 18 percent of all Americans answered that he is Muslim. Of Muslim Americans, 10 percent identified him as Muslim.
