When Muslim extremists killed nearly 3,000 people on the morning of September 11, Americans awoke to the dangers of radical Islam. Though hardly the first instance of terrorism perpetrated by the hands of Muslims, nor the last, 9/11 was a crystallizing moment in the American psyche, and it led to intense debate about the nature of the “religion of peace.” Now, 25 years after 9/11, Americans are having a renewed discussion about Islam and whether the religion is compatible with Western values. While it may not come as a surprise that some on the Right do not believe Islam is compatible with the West, what you might find surprising is that many on the Left agree.
In our survey of 1,067 adults, conducted by Ipsos for the Institute for Governance and Civics, we find that many are skeptical of Islam. In the survey, we randomly assigned participants to receive a question with one key difference. Half of participants were asked to agree with the following statement: “Overall, Western civilization has done more harm than good in world history.” The other half received the same question, but the word “Western” was replaced with “Islamic.” While 6% strongly agreed and 17% somewhat agreed that Western civilization has done more harm than good, 22% strongly agreed and 22% somewhat agreed that Islamic civilization has done more harm than good. Replacing “Western” with “Islamic” increased total agreement with the statement by 21 percentage points.
.png)
.png)
