U.S. Muslims Say They're Patriotic and Optimistic About Future

Even as they report discrimination, a new Gallup poll find Muslims are "thriving"

A Gallup poll released today finds that Americans Muslims say they are loyal to the U.S. and feel more politically enfranchised "even though they are more likely than other religious groups to say they recently experienced discrimination," reports The New York Times. 60 percent of Muslims in the survey said they were "thriving" in the U.S., which is more than any other religious group save for Jewish respondents and a jump of 19 points since 2008. "Muslim Americans are happier and more optimistic today than at the end of 2008," the director of the Abu Dhabi Gallup Center told Reuters. 89 percent of Muslim Americans said violence against civilians was never justifiable while only 71 and 79 percent of other religious groups responded the same way. On many questions, Jews responded similarly to Muslims. In fact, Jews were the second most likely to call Muslims loyal to the U.S., outnumbered only by Muslims who called Muslims loyal to the U.S. About two-thirds of Muslims say they personally identify with the United States strongly, which was a similar response to how strongly they identify with their religion. Still, other religious groups, including Protestants and Catholics, identified more with the United States than their own religion. "The poll in many ways contradicts the stereotype of Muslim Americans as an alienated and discontented religious minority," observes The Times' Laurie Goodstein.