Reactions to the War on Terrorism: Ethnic Group Differences in the 2007 Pew Poll of American Muslims-Final Report

This study explores opinions relating to the war on terrorism for seven groups of participants in the 2007 Pew poll of U.S Muslims: African-American Muslims (self-identified as “Black” and born in the U.S. of U.S.-born parents) and Muslims born in Pakistan, Iran, Arab countries, South Asian countries excluding Pakistan, European countries, and sub-Saharan African countries. For all seven groups, half or more of participants did not believe the U.S. war on terrorism is sincere but less than ten percent had favorable opinions of Al Qaeda and only a few percent justified suicide bombing in defense of Islam. Within these general similarities two groups stood out. Iran-born Muslims were on average less religious than other groups but their opinions about the war on terrorism were strongly related to individual differences in religiosity, perceptions of discrimination, and opposition to government and government policies. African-American Muslims were more negative than other groups about the war on terrorism but their opinions were unrelated to these same individual differences. Discussion suggests that these results are the beginning of a more differentiated view of U.S. Muslims.