Opinion of Muslims

• Introduction
• Patterns

Opinion of Muslims (Demographic Patterns)

Thinking about specific religious groups, what is your overall opinion of: Muslims?

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Opinion of Muslims by Gender (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Male	Female	TOTAL
Very favorable	6.4% 27	7.7% 40	7.1% 67
Mostly favorable	41.4% 176	41.8% 217	41.6% 393
Mostly unfavorable	20.9% 89	14.1% 73	17.2% 162
Very unfavorable	9.6% 41	10.6% 55	10.2% 96
Never heard of	0.5% 2	1.0% 5	0.7% 7
Can't rate	16.9% 72	22.2% 115	19.8% 187
Refused	4.2% 18	2.7% 14	3.4% 32
Missing	497	561	1058
TOTAL	100% 425	100% 519	944

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Opinion of Muslims by Political party (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Republican	Democrat	No pref	Oth party	DK/Refused	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	6.1% 18	6.8% 19	9.4% 6	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	24	6.5% 43
Mostly favorable	37.9% 111	46.1% 129	34.4% 22	100.0% 1	20.0% 5	125	40.4% 268
Mostly unfavorable	19.1% 56	16.8% 47	12.5% 8	0.0% 0	4.0% 1	50	16.9% 112
Very unfavorable	12.6% 37	7.9% 22	17.2% 11	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	26	10.6% 70
Never heard of	0.3% 1	0.4% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	12.0% 3	2	0.8% 5
Can't rate	19.8% 58	19.6% 55	21.9% 14	0.0% 0	44.0% 11	49	20.8% 138
Refused	4.1% 12	2.5% 7	4.7% 3	0.0% 0	20.0% 5	5	4.1% 27
Missing	360	314	57	3	29	295	1058
TOTAL	100% 293	100% 280	100% 64	100% 1	100% 25	576	663

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Opinion of Muslims by Family income (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	<20,000	20-30,000	30-50,000	50-75,000	75,000+	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	6.6% 11	8.1% 8	7.7% 16	5.4% 8	7.7% 14	10	7.1% 57
Mostly favorable	33.5% 56	36.4% 36	39.1% 81	55.8% 82	49.7% 90	48	43.1% 345
Mostly unfavorable	16.8% 28	24.2% 24	17.4% 36	13.6% 20	19.9% 36	18	18.0% 144
Very unfavorable	13.2% 22	13.1% 13	7.2% 15	9.5% 14	8.8% 16	16	10.0% 80
Never heard of	1.8% 3	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	4	0.4% 3
Can't rate	24.6% 41	17.2% 17	25.6% 53	13.6% 20	11.0% 20	36	18.9% 151
Refused	3.6% 6	1.0% 1	2.9% 6	2.0% 3	2.8% 5	11	2.6% 21
Missing	145	136	234	170	214	159	1058
TOTAL	100% 167	100% 99	100% 207	100% 147	100% 181	302	801

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Opinion of Muslims by Education (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Less than high school	High school graduate	Some college	College +	Refused	TOTAL
Very favorable	2.2% 2	6.3% 19	8.3% 19	8.5% 27	0.0% 0	7.1% 67
Mostly favorable	26.9% 25	35.8% 108	40.6% 93	52.5% 166	25.0% 1	41.6% 393
Mostly unfavorable	20.4% 19	15.6% 47	19.7% 45	15.8% 50	25.0% 1	17.2% 162
Very unfavorable	12.9% 12	11.9% 36	10.5% 24	7.6% 24	0.0% 0	10.2% 96
Never heard of	5.4% 5	0.7% 2	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	0.7% 7
Can't rate	30.1% 28	25.5% 77	18.3% 42	12.0% 38	50.0% 2	19.8% 187
Refused	2.2% 2	4.3% 13	2.6% 6	3.5% 11	0.0% 0	3.4% 32
Missing	90	344	296	324	4	1058
TOTAL	100% 93	100% 302	100% 229	100% 316	100% 4	944

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Opinion of Muslims by Marital status (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Married	Divorced	Separated	Widowed	Never been married	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	5.9% 29	9.3% 11	15.4% 4	4.3% 4	8.7% 18	1	7.0% 66
Mostly favorable	41.8% 207	40.7% 48	38.5% 10	26.1% 24	48.8% 101	3	41.6% 390
Mostly unfavorable	16.0% 79	22.0% 26	11.5% 3	16.3% 15	18.4% 38	1	17.2% 161
Very unfavorable	11.1% 55	8.5% 10	15.4% 4	13.0% 12	7.2% 15	0	10.2% 96
Never heard of	0.6% 3	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	3.3% 3	0.5% 1	0	0.7% 7
Can't rate	20.8% 103	17.8% 21	15.4% 4	33.7% 31	13.0% 27	1	19.8% 186
Refused	3.8% 19	1.7% 2	3.8% 1	3.3% 3	3.4% 7	0	3.4% 32
Missing	557	159	23	86	227	6	1058
TOTAL	100% 495	100% 118	100% 26	100% 92	100% 207	12	938

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Opinion of Muslims by Age (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	18-24	25-34	35-44	45-54	55+	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	4.9% 5	10.4% 17	7.4% 15	3.6% 6	8.1% 24	0	7.2% 67
Mostly favorable	49.5% 51	47.9% 78	39.6% 80	53.8% 91	30.4% 90	3	41.8% 390
Mostly unfavorable	17.5% 18	16.6% 27	19.8% 40	17.2% 29	14.5% 43	5	16.8% 157
Very unfavorable	8.7% 9	9.8% 16	7.4% 15	10.1% 17	13.2% 39	0	10.3% 96
Never heard of	1.0% 1	0.6% 1	0.5% 1	0.0% 0	1.4% 4	0	0.8% 7
Can't rate	14.6% 15	12.3% 20	22.8% 46	14.8% 25	26.7% 79	2	19.8% 185
Refused	3.9% 4	2.5% 4	2.5% 5	0.6% 1	5.7% 17	1	3.3% 31
Missing	136	155	207	210	333	17	1058
TOTAL	100% 103	100% 163	100% 202	100% 169	100% 296	28	933

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Opinion of Muslims by Religious preference (Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002)

	Christian	Jewish	Athst/Agno	Other	No pref	Missing	TOTAL
Very favorable	6.5% 49	11.8% 2	5.4% 2	13.2% 5	10.0% 8	1	7.1% 66
Mostly favorable	42.0% 316	47.1% 8	51.4% 19	50.0% 19	33.8% 27	4	42.1% 389
Mostly unfavorable	16.5% 124	5.9% 1	21.6% 8	18.4% 7	22.5% 18	4	17.1% 158
Very unfavorable	11.0% 83	17.6% 3	5.4% 2	5.3% 2	7.5% 6	0	10.4% 96
Never heard of	0.5% 4	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	2.6% 1	2.5% 2	0	0.8% 7
Can't rate	20.5% 154	11.8% 2	16.2% 6	10.5% 4	18.8% 15	6	19.6% 181
Refused	3.1% 23	5.9% 1	0.0% 0	0.0% 0	5.0% 4	4	3.0% 28
Missing	864	14	25	32	100	23	1058
TOTAL	100% 753	100% 17	100% 37	100% 38	100% 80	42	925

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Notes

Religion and Public Life Survey, 2002: This project investigated the public's attitudes on religion and public life. The survey was commissioned by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press (www.people-press.org) and produced two reports. The first report addressed America’s struggle with religion in the post 9-11 climate. The second report examined the public’s attitudes about genetic research.