Anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States has risen to unprecedented levels. A recent Washington Post poll found that almost half of all Americans have a negative view of Islam, nearly a 10-point jump from a similar poll taken shortly after the 9/11 attacks.
Many reasons have been given to explain this surge in anti-Muslim hysteria in the U.S.: economic anxiety, weariness with the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, heightened fears of a “homegrown” terrorist attack.
Yet a more revealing reason emerged in a study last August by the Pew Research Center, which found that nearly one in five Americans believe President Barack Obama is himself a Muslim — up from 11% a year ago. Indeed, the more a person disagrees with President Obama’s domestic policies, the poll found, the more likely that person is to consider Obama a Muslim.
