Muslim American Views on
Islamic Extremism
Foreign Native
Concern about U.S. ---Born--- ---Born---
rise of Islamic Muslims All Arabs All Blacks
extremism in U.S. % % % % %
Very/Somewhat 61 60 72 66 67
Not too/Not at all 34 35 24 32 32
Neither/DK 5 5 4 2 1
100 100 100 100 100
Suicide bombing
can be justified…
Often/Sometimes 8 9 12 8 6
Rarely/Never 83 82 78 87 85
DK/Refused 9 9 10 5 9
100 100 100 100 100
View of al Qaeda
Very unfavorable 58 63 60 51 36
Somewhat unfav. 10 7 8 16 25
Favorable 5 3 4 7 9
DK/Refused 27 27 28 26 30
100 100 100 100 100
Did Arabs carry
out 9/11 attacks?
Believe 40 37 22 48 44
Do not believe 28 27 41 31 27
DK/Refused 32 36 37 21 29
100 100 100 100 100
Very few Muslim Americans – just
1% – say that suicide bombings against
civilian targets are often justified to defend
Islam; an additional 7% say suicide bombings
are sometimes justified in these
circumstances. In Western Europe, higher
percentages of Muslims in Great Britain,
France and Spain said that suicide bombings
in the defense of Islam are often or sometimes justified. ...
In addition, the survey finds that younger Muslim
Americans – those under age 30 – are both much more
religiously observant and more accepting of Islamic extremism
than are older Muslim Americans. Younger Muslim Americans
report attending services at a mosque more frequently than do
older Muslims. And a greater percentage of younger Muslims in
the U.S. think of themselves first as Muslims, rather than
primarily as Americans (60% vs. 41% among Muslim
Americans ages 30 and older). Moreover, more than twice as
many Muslim Americans under age 30 as older Muslims believe
that suicide bombings can be often or sometimes justified in
the
defense of Islam (15% vs. 6%).
A pattern of greater acceptance of suicide bombing
among young Muslim Americans corresponds with the Pew
Global Attitude Project’s findings among Muslims in Great
Britain, France, Germany and Spain. In contrast, surveys among
Muslims in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world do not
show greater tolerance of suicide bombing among young people.
Whole thing at
http://pewresearch.org/assets/pdf/muslim-americans.pdf