Jews Most Favorable Toward Muslims, White Evangelicals Least

I don’t find this terribly surprising. But it is a highly notable, really key part of the broader debate about how the right-wing uses and distorts the debate over anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and religious diversity in the United States. The Institute for Social Policy and Understanding has a new public opinion report out on Islamophobia and Americans’ attitudes toward Muslims. The report covers a lot of ground and includes an easily accessible range of charts that makes it easy to dip into. I recommend it to you. What I want to focus on is one key finding: of all religious or ethnic groups in America, Jews have by far the most positive attitudes toward Muslims.

Equally striking: by far the most negative attitudes toward Muslims are held by white evangelicals.

As I said, the results with respect to Jews does not surprise me that much based on my own experience. But it is so out of whack with much of the public narrative about Jews and Muslims in the United States that it really demands our attention.