Reactions to the War on Terrorism: Origin-Group Differences in the 2007 Pew Poll of U.S. Muslims

This study explored opinions relating to the war on terrorism for seven groups of participants in the 2007 Pew poll of U.S Muslims: African-American Muslims and Muslims born in Iran, Pakistan, other South Asian countries, Arab countries, European countries, and sub-Saharan African countries.  For all seven groups, half or more of respondents did not believe the US war on terrorism is sincere. Yet less than ten percent had favorable opinions of Al-Qaeda or 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, had higher education and income, and reported least support for suicide bombing.  African-American Muslims reported lower education and income than other groups and were most negative about the war on terrorism. These results indicate that US Muslims are not a homogenous community; understanding Muslim views of the war on terrorism will require study of origin-based subcultures.