Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, USA

Pew Research Center Report on Muslim Americans

Read the August 2011 Pew Research Center Report entitled, "Muslim Americans: No Signs of Growth in Alienation or Support for Extremism" here.

PREFACE

Four years ago, the Pew Research Center conducted the first-ever nationwide survey of Muslim Americans. By and large, the 2007 survey showed, Muslims living in the United States were middle class and mainstream: largely assimilated, happy with their lives and moderate with respect to global issues, especially in comparison with minority Muslim publics surveyed in several European countries by the Pew Global Attitudes Project.

Since then, however, Muslim Americans have faced a well-known series of challenges and controversies. A national debate erupted over the proposed construction of a mosque and Islamic center in lower Manhattan, and local controversies have surrounded mosque construction projects in at least three dozen other communities across the country. A shooting spree at Fort Hood, Texas, in November 2009 fueled rising concern about home-grown Islamic terrorists. The recession hit many groups very hard, Muslim Americans among them, and immigration has continued to be a divisive national issue, particularly amid a slow economic recovery.

As the 10th anniversary of 9/11 approached, it seemed an appropriate time to survey Muslim Americans again and take stock of any important changes in the attitudes, opinions and experiences of this growing segment of U.S. society. The 2011 survey repeats many key questions from the 2007 poll. It also closely follows the methodology of the previous survey, including the use of random-digit-dialing to screen a large number of households (more than 41,000) to obtain a representative national sample of Muslims. As in 2007, interviews were conducted not only in English but also in Arabic, Urdu and Farsi, helping to ensure coverage of parts of the heavily immigrant Muslim American population that could be missed by an English-only survey.

The study was overseen by the Pew Research Center’s president, Andrew Kohut, and the Pew Forum’s director, Luis Lugo. The Pew Research Center’s director of survey research, Scott Keeter, served as project director for the survey, with the close assistance of Gregory Smith, senior survey researcher at the Pew Forum, and Leah Christian, senior researcher at the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press. We were fortunate in this effort to have the continuing counsel of Amaney Jamal, an associate professor of politics at Princeton University and a specialist in the study of Muslim public opinion, who was also senior project adviser for the 2007 survey. We also are grateful to Courtney Kennedy, Chintan Turakhia and Dean Williams from the research firm of Abt SRBI Inc. for their advice and diligent work on methodological issues.

Andrew Kohut, President, Pew Research Center
Luis Lugo, Director, Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

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