Nearly half of Americans think that “at least some” Muslims harbor anti-American sentiments, according to a new poll.
About 49 percent think the Islamic faithful have traces of animosity towards the U.S., according to a Pew survey released Wednesday.
{mosads}Approximately 24 percent say “some” Muslims are anti-American, versus 14 percent who said “about half” and 11 percent who stated “almost all or most.” Another 42 percent think the total is “just a few or none,” while 9 percent said they “don’t know.”
Americans overwhelmingly blame extremism on violent people rather than any particular religion, however.
Roughly 68 percent think that extremists use religion as a justification for bloody acts, pollsters found. Another 22 percent say that certain religious faiths promote savagery against others.
About 14 percent selected “Islam” as the most likely culprit, with 2 percent blaming “multiple or all religions” and 1 percent saying “other religions” instead.
Another 4 percent “don’t know” which religion is at fault, while 10 percent said “neither, both or don’t know” whether people or faith motivates violence.
Pollsters additionally discovered that Americans are almost evenly divided on how the next president should handle Islamic extremism.
About 50 percent say they should “be careful not to criticize Islam as a whole,” contrasted with 40 percent who argue they should “speak bluntly even when critical of Islam as a whole” instead. The remaining 10 percent were uncertain how the next commander in chief should approach the faith.
Pew conducted its latest survey of 2,009 American adults via cell and landline telephone interviews from Jan. 7-14. It has a 2.5 percent margin of error.