Surprise, surprise - Poll: GOP really dislikes Muslims (Democrats have favorable view)

[pampango]

The site of a proposed mosque sits closed as a police officer
stands guard in New York, Saturday, Sept. 11, 2010.

Anyone wondering why Rep. Michele Bachmann would launch a witch hunt against Muslims or why the Republican Party would add a plank to its platform opposing Shariah law need look no further than a new poll conducted by the Arab American Institute.

The poll, released today, asked Americans for their views on various religious groups, as well as on Arabs and Arab-Americans. It also asked respondents how confident they would be that a Muslim or Arab-American holding a position of influence in government could do their job without letting “ethnic loyalty … influence their decision-making.”

The results are split sharply along partisan lines. Overall, Republican voters hold strongly negative views of Muslims, with 57 percent saying they view them unfavorably and just 26 saying they view them favorably — more than double. The numbers are similar for Arabs, whom Republican respondents view negatively by a slightly smaller margin of 26 percent, 53 to 27 percent. When asked about “Muslim Americans” and “Arab Americans,” the numbers improved slightly, with a 12 and 15 percent net unfavorable rating, respectively.

By contrast, Democrats held favorable views of these groups by margins of at least 20-35 percent in all four cases. The view of Muslims and Arabs among Democrats was still less positive than other religious groups included in the survey, however, underscoring a resilient problem of post-9/11 America. Still, Democrats gave no group a net negative rating, while Republicans gave negative ratings to Muslims, Arabs, Muslim-Americans and Arab-Americans.

http://www.salon.com/2012/08/23/poll_republicans_really_dislike_muslims/

Republicans hate and fear 'others'. Not a big surprise there. It is nice to see that Democrats view positively all the ethnic and religious groups covered in the poll. Again not a surprise.

[Wait Wut]

1. Hmmmmm...

I'll wait until they do a poll on how Republicans and Democrats view 'people'. I view them favorably. I have yet to judge anyone on their religion. Unless they try to force it upon me in some fashion. Then I will judge them until the moon turns to cheese.

[LonePirate]

2. Is there anyone the Republicans do not hate? They are so depressingly insular.