It also showed that Muslims, along with atheists, continue to be rated more negatively than a variety of other religious groups, including Jews, Catholics, mainline Protestants, evangelical Christians, Buddhists, Hindus and Mormons. In addition to asking about Muslims, the survey asked respondents to assign feeling thermometer ratings to a variety of other religious groups, and it found that the public has grown warmer toward most religious groups in recent years. On average, Americans gave Muslims a thermometer rating of 48 degrees, which was 8 degrees warmer than in 2014, when the Center first posed the question. In a January 2017 survey, Pew Research Center asked respondents to rate Muslims on a “feeling thermometer” ranging from 0 to 100, where 0 degrees indicates the coldest, most negative feelings and 100 degrees indicates the warmest, most positive feelings. In recent years, warmer feelings toward Muslims public is split over whether there is a “natural conflict” between Islam and democracy. adults say Islam is not part of mainstream American society. Indeed, Americans – especially Republicans and those who lean toward the GOP – view Muslims far less positively than they view members of most other major religious groups. Still, overall opinion on many questions about Muslims remains divided – and deeply fractured along partisan lines. adults say media coverage of Muslims is unfair.
And a large – and growing – majority of the public says that Muslims in the United States face a lot of discrimination, while roughly half of U.S. In addition, most say there is little or no support for extremism among U.S. More Americans express “warmer” feelings toward Muslims on a thermometer scale than they have in the past, while there has been a decline in the share who say Islam is more likely than other religions to encourage violence among its followers.
But on some measures, opinions about Muslims and Islam have become more positive in recent years.
In general, Americans continue to express mixed views of both Muslims and Islam.