Excerpt:
While most non-Muslims in the US are accepting of Muslim Americans, Republicans are far more likely to have potentially negative views about them, according to data released Thursday.
New America, a thinktank working with the American Muslim Institution, conducted 1,165 interviews in four metropolitan areas prior to the 6 November midterm elections.
Perceptions of Muslims in America are especially prescient in advance of an election cycle that has highlighted racial, religious and economic divides. Donald Trump has capitalized on anti-Muslim sentiment to rally segments of his base which oppose immigration – most flagrantly with his travel ban from several majority Muslim nations.
Trump also recently referred to a US-bound caravan of migrants as an “invasion” – making flimsy, unproved claims that “Middle Easterners” were among them.