Poll finds Americans uninformed on Islam
By Seth Mandel
Americans suffer from an "information underload" vis-a-vis their knowledge about Islam, though concern for national security remains high, according to a new poll and focus group.
"I knew that the numbers would be low, because we did set out to find out 'What do Americans know about Islam?' But they were so shockingly low," said Carol Taber, president of Family Security Matters, the organization that sponsored the survey. "I never, in my wildest dreams, thought it would be that bad."
Taber said the idea for the poll came out of a meeting she had with Rep. Sue Myrick, the Republican congresswoman from
"I thank Family Security Matters for doing this national study," Myrick said in an email to The Jewish State. "This is the first survey I've seen that really shows what Americans know about things like Shariah law and sovereign wealth funds. My hope is that people will take notice and will begin to educate themselves on these issues."
Taber said they did the poll and a focus group survey to accompany the results, so people could understand the thinking behind the numbers.
"The combination of the two was really very powerful, as it turned out," Taber told The Jewish State in a phone interview after the release of the poll results.
Respondents were asked about various elements of Islam, such as the Quran, Shariah (Islamic law), and Wahhabism, and between one and three percent felt they were very knowledgeable about those elements.
Taber said the core of the challenge comes from the misconception that Islam is only a religion, while the predominant Islamic ideologies are Islamist -- political Islam. Taber said criticizing religion is often considered taboo in the media, which enables Islamism to fly under the radar.
"And at the same time, Americans recognize very readily, and are very vocal about really bad ideas that are manifest in political ideologies, like Nazism or communism," Taber said. "So if we can help people understand that Islam is not just a religion, but a combination -- it's a theological-political doctrine that covers all aspects of a Muslim's life."
The survey polled 1,000 likely voters nationwide, and utilized sampling controls to ensure representative and proportional numbers. It was conducted by the Washington, D.C.-based the polling companyTM, inc./WomanTrend.
The poll had seven key findings. The first was that eight percent believed homeland security/terrorism to be the most important election-season issue, behind the economy (44 percent) and the war in
The second key finding was that concern about the impact of a terrorist attack is actually higher than in 2006. Sixty percent said that a large-scale attack on a major
The third finding of the poll was that Americans prefer to describe the current war as a war on radical extremism (34 percent) or a war on terror (30 percent) rather than a war on radical Islam (13 percent).
Only one percent of poll respondents, according to the fourth major finding, considered themselves very knowledgeable in Wahhabism, a strict Islamic supremacist ideology most popular in
The fifth finding of the study showed that though respondents didn't know much about civilization jihad or sovereign wealth funds, when told what they were, respondents expressed "intense concern about their impact on the safety and sovereignty of
Civilization jihad is a strategy pushed by the Muslim Brotherhood to take over a country from within. Muslim Brotherhood documents have been found indicating the Brotherhood practices civilization jihad in
The sixth major finding of the poll was overwhelming support for increased domestic oil drilling to cut down on our importation of oil from Muslim countries. Seventy-seven percent supported more drilling offshore, while 18 percent were against.
All three major political categories -- Republicans, Democrats, and independents -- supported more drilling by at least a two-thirds majority.
The final finding of the poll was that political leaders are trusted less to provide information on the
Taber said public discussion about Islam should center on Shariah precepts, since it is more closely related to our Constitution than to familiar religious practices.
"The reason why Shariah law matters to us here in
Taber said Shariah law has already become intrusive into Americans' lives by encouraging Muslim cab drivers to deny service to those with Seeing Eye dogs, sanctioning honor killings, and inspiring madrassah schools, such as those discovered in
"These are schools that are teaching kids under what circumstances it's OK to kill a Christian or a Jew," Taber said. "Right here, on our soil."
Taber said she wants the American public to understand the threat posed by Islamic terrorism. In today's world, that means having to get that information outside of a mostly silent media.
"Because of that, what we'd like people to do is to educate themselves -- go to the Internet, come to our site, there are hundreds of national security sites that articulate the message here," she said.
She said people are understandably focused on the economy during this election season, but "We won't have an economy if we don't get national security right."
Family Security Matters has developed a 2008 presidential election voter guide to see how the candidates rank on various terrorism-related subjects. It is nonpartisan, and available on the organization's Web site, www.familysecuritymatters.org.
Taber said she wants people to know the difference between mainstream Muslims and the practitioners of Shariah law. The first is an ally; the latter is the threat.
"There are hundreds of millions of Muslims who want to live peacefully, and they are our compatriots," Taber said. "We're not worried about them. The ones we're worried about are the ones who take this doctrinal law seriously. And they are a minority, they're maybe 15-20 percent. But don't forget: the Nazis never got more than 20 percent of the population in
The fight against creeping Shariah is a fight for the sovereignty, liberty, and equality that Americans value, Taber said, referencing Harvard University's recent decision to ban men from the campus athletic facilities six times a week so Muslim women can workout by themselves.
"We've already been through separate swimming pools for blacks and whites -- the civil rights movement and the Civil War," Taber said. "We fought each other to protect these values. And we see them now coming around again trying to take them away from us."