Poll: More Americans Think Islam Encourages Violence

July 25, 2003

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - An increasing number of Americans see Islam as more likely than other religions to encourage violence among its followers, according to a survey on religion and politics released on Thursday.
The nationwide poll of more than 2,000 adults found that 44 percent believe Islam encourages violence, up sharply from the 25 percent who held that view in a 2002 poll.

The gender, educational level and location of the respondents did not affect their opinions, according to the survey conducted by the Pew Research Center and Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, based in Washington.

A separate survey, conducted in June, found that Americans increasingly perceive anti-Americanism among Muslims around the world. Nearly a quarter said most or almost all Muslims are anti-American. By comparison, a March 2002 survey found only 18 percent felt that way.

A narrow majority, 51 percent, had a favorable view of Muslim-Americans, 24 percent had an unfavorable view and 25 percent had no opinion.

However, overall unfavorable ratings for Muslim-Americans have inched upward from 17 percent soon after the Sept. 11 attacks to 24 percent today.

The poll also found that 40 percent of Americans believe religion in general plays a large role in causing wars, compared with 34 percent last year.

The telephone survey of 2,002 adults was conducted June 24-July 8, and has an error margin of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.

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