What Muslim Americans Think

The Pew Research Center has released an important survey, Muslim Americans: Middle Class and Mostly Mainstream. It is an excellent review of a minority group that helps debunk the stereotypes that became more pronounced after 9/11. In some areas, the attitudes of Muslim Americans are contrasted with those of Muslims living in Europe.

Some of the findings:

POPULATION: The survey estimates that there are 2.35 million Muslims in the U.S., less than 1% of the population, half what some Muslim activists cite.

PROFILE: 65% of Muslim Americans were born outside the U.S.; nearly 40% immigrated since 1990. Of the 35% who were born in the U.S., most are converts to Islam. Arabs represent the largest percentage of foreign-born Muslim Americans, 37%.

EDUCATION AND INCOME: 47% have attended college. Muslim Americans matched the average U.S. incomes, with 16% earning more than $100,000 a year, and 41% earning more than $50,000. By comparison, Muslims in Western European countries were likely to earn much less than the average.

IDENTITY: 47% think of themselves as Muslims first, compared to 81% of British Muslims and 69% of Spanish. The U.S. rate was comparable to France, where 46% think of themselves as Muslims before being French.

BEING A MUSLIM AMERICAN: 53% say it has become more difficult to be a Muslim in the U.S. since Sept. 11. 54% believe Muslims are singled out for government surveillance. 15% say they have been called an offensive name, though 73% say they have never been victims of discrimination.

VIEWS ON U.S. FOREIGN POLICY: 12% say the Iraq war was the right decision; 75% say it was wrong. 35% say the Afghan war was right; 48% wrong. 26% say the war on terrorism is sincere; 55% not sincere.

VIEWS ON ISRAEL/PALESTINE: 61% say a way can be found for Israelis and Palestinians to coexist. (The optimism matches the views of people in the U.S. and Israel, where 67% agreed. Only 17% of people in the Palestinian territories share the optimism.)

VIEWS ON ISLAMIC EXTREMISM: 58% say their opinion of Al Qaeda is very unfavorable; compared to 5% favorable and 10% somewhat unfavorable. 83% say suicide bombing can never/rarely be justified; 8% often/sometimes. Young American Muslims were slightly more likely to view Al Qaeda and suicide bombings favorably.

VIEWS ON AMERICAN POLITICS: 14% of voters voted for Bush; 71% for Kerry. 11% are Republican or leaning that way; 63% Democrat.

RELIGIOUS PRACTICE: 61% say they pray every day (Pew says 70% of U.S. Christians pray daily.) 41% say they perform all five prayers per day in accordance with one of the five pillars of Islam. 63% say there is no conflict in being a devout Muslim and living in a modern society.

VIEWS ON LIFE: 78% say they are very or pretty happy with their lives. 71% say hard work leads to success. 43% say Muslims should adopt American customs while 26% say they should remain distinct from American society. 62% sat it is OK to marry a non-Muslim. 61% say homosexuality should be discouraged; 27% say accepted.

--By Scott MacLeod/Cairo