Poll Analysis: Many Americans Searched for Answers About Islam After 9/11

In February of 1993 the Los Angeles Times Poll asked Americans “What is your impression of the religion called Islam?” A large majority -- nearly two-thirds -- said they did not know enough about the religion to have an opinion. The events of September 11, 2002, did much to change that, however. The most recent Times Poll survey conducted last month, August 22-25, found that about a third made an effort to learn more about Islam after the attacks. In this latest poll, the proportion of those who said they don’t know about Islam or don’t have an opinion has dropped to 34%, while the percentage of those who have a favorable impression of it has doubled from 14% in 1993 to 28% today. Almost four in 10 now say they have an unfavorable impression of the religion, up from 22% in 1993.

While Americans’ overall impression of Islam is slightly more negative than positive, about four in 10 said they have a very (11%) or somewhat (28%) favorable impression of American Muslims. Just over a quarter (26%) said unfavorable, while 35% said they weren’t sure. While hate crimes against Muslims are reported * to be three times as frequent as they were in the year previous to September 11th, their frequency has diminished over recent months, declining from a peak reached in the weeks after the attacks.

Thirty-four percent of Americans said that they made an effort after the events of September 11th to read or attend classes in order to find answers to their questions about the Islamic faith. Generally similar proportions of people of both genders and all ages and political beliefs went in search of more information on the subject.

However, the survey indicates that many did not find what they read or learned to be comforting, despite evidence that most Muslims repudiate the terrorist’s radical fundamentalist brand of the Islamic religion. Nearly six in 10 of Americans who made some attempt to learn more said what they learned had not changed their opinion of the faith. More than two in 10 (21%) of that group said they have a more unfavorable opinion now than they did before and 17% said they feel more favorably toward the religion now. Women were 11 points more likely than men to change to a more unfavorable opinion after doing more research. Twenty-seven percent of women who had made an effort to learn about it said they feel less favorable toward Islam now, compared to 16% of men. Men who felt more positive after learning more outnumbered women by 10 percentage points at 22% to 12%.

* Los Angeles Times, July 6, 2002, Deluge of Hate Crimes After 9/11 Pours Through System, by Richard A. Serrano

How the Poll Was Conducted

The Times Poll contacted 1,372 Americans nationwide by telephone August 22-25. Telephone numbers were chosen from a list of all exchanges in the nation. Random-digit dialing techniques were used so that listed and unlisted numbers could be contacted. The entire sample was weighted slightly to conform with census figures for sex, race, age, education and region. The margin of sampling error for the entire sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. For certain subgroups the error margin may be somewhat higher. Poll results can also be affected by other factors such as question wording and the order in which questions are presented.