Poll: Majority Now Say Islam Promotes Violence, Support Ban on Muslims Entering U.S.

ashley.rae | March 29, 2016
DONATE
Font Size

Following the terrorist attack in Brussels, a slight majority of Americans now support a ban on Muslims entering the United States and think “the religion of peace” is a fundamentally violent religion.

In a poll conducted from March 24-25, YouGov asked 1,000 Americans whether they support Republican presidential Donald Trump’s proposal to enact a "total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country’s representatives can figure out what is going on.”

The poll found 30 percent of Americans “strongly agree” with a shutdown of Muslims entering the United States while 21 percent “agree somewhat” with the proposal.

In total, the poll shows 51 percent of Americans favor a shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.

Support for the proposal is partisan, with only 32 percent of Democrats supporting it compared to 52 percent of Independents and 82 percent of Republicans.

This position on banning Muslims from entering the United States comes as the poll asked respondents to answer, “Which statement comes closer to your own views” on Islam, with the choices being either:

  1. “The Islamic religion is more likely than others to encourage violence among its believers” or
  2. “The Islamic religion does not encourage violence more than others.”

In response, 59 percent of those polled replied, “The Islamic religion is more likely than others to encourage violence among its believers” while 41 percent responded, “The Islamic religion does not encourage violence more than others.”

A majority of Republicans (83 percent) and a majority of Independents (63 percent) responded that Islam is more likely to encourage violence among its believer than other religions, while a majority of Democrats (61 percent) responded Islam does not encourage more violence among believers.

The YouGov poll was conducted via Web-based interviews. The margin of error is ± 4% (adjusted for weighting).

donate