Over 84pc supporters of Trump hostile towards Islam: survey

WASHINGTON: More than 84% supporters of Republican Presidential candidate Doland Trump have an unfavorable attitude toward Islam while only 33% supporter of Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton have similar attitude towards World’s second largest religion, a fresh survey has revealed.

The findings of the study conducted by the Anwar Sadat Chair for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland (UMD) may explain why an overwhelming majority of American Muslims is supporting Mrs. Clinton.

The study was shared at a talk on “Islamophobia and the American Elections” at UMD on Thursday. It was presented by Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University.

According to study, 66 % Trump supporters have unfavorable attitude towards Muslims while only 17 % Clinton supporters have similar attitude about Muslim people. Participants of the study were asked to describe their attitude towards Islam and Muslims separately.

The survey revealed that 64% Trump supporters believe that Islamic and Western religious and social traditions are incompatible with each other while only 13% Clinton supporter buy that notion.

The survey was conducted during June 24-30, 2016 with a panel consisting of a probability-based representative sample. The panel was recruited by Nielsen Scarborough from its larger probability-based national panel.

Interestingly, the survey revealed 34 % American said they would not vote for a Muslim American Presidential candidate even if they agree with the general positions of the candidate on issues that are important to them.

To similar question, only 8% Americans said no to a Jewish American presidential candidate and 17% said no to an Evangelical Christian. The study revealed that overall of Americans who have met and known at least one Muslim, 78% show favourable attitude towards Muslim.

While among those who never met any Muslim in life, only 51% show favorable attitude towards Muslim. Speaking about the study on the occasion, Shibley Telhami urged American students to meet Muslims and also urged Muslims to meet American to improve perception about each others.

He said the study has also revealed that debate during US election campaign has not resulted in rise in Islamophobia in American society. In fact, he said, the perception of Islam and Muslims have improved over the last one year despite strong words used against Muslims by Donald Trump.

He said majority of Americans are worried about terrorism when it comes to Muslim refugees but in fact only three refugees have been arrested on terror-related charges by US authorities since 9/11 attacks on World Trade Centre. 

He said young people and future generations who travel a lot tend to have better understanding of Islam and Muslims. He said although Islamophobia is on decline in US society, its intensity has increased.

Speaking on the occasion, Associate Professor Sahar Khamis said American Muslims are taking current elections very seriously and for the first time they were participating in political process. “The American Muslims Know this is now or never for them,” she said.

She said Muslims are skeptical about the real change in US foreign policy regardless of election results. “American perception in Muslim world will only improve if the country changes its foreign policy towards Islamic countries”