Muslim Americans: A National Portrait

Read the Report (PDF)
Wednesday, November 25, 2009

An in-depth analysis of America’s most diverse religious community
The Gallup Organization has conducted a study of Muslim-Americans that reveals “Muslims in America have a much more positive outlook on life than their counterparts in most predominantly Muslim countries and some other Western societies” and that “Muslim-Americans to be racially and ideologically diverse, extremely religious, and younger and more highly educated than the typical American.”

The demographics of the study showed the following:

RELIGIOSITY: Muslim-Americans are more religious than other Americans, but less likely than those in predominantly Muslim countries to say religion plays an important part in their lives — 80 percent of Muslim-Americans compared to virtually all in Egypt, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Morocco, for example.

IDEOLOGY: Muslim-Americans are the U.S. religious group most evenly spread out along the political spectrum — 29% liberal, 38% moderate, 25% conservative.

PARTISANSHIP: 49 percent of Muslim-Americans called themselves Democrats, 8 percent Republican and 37 percent independent. Gallup found that among all Americans in 2008 34 percent identified as Democratic, 26 percent Republican and 33 percent independent. But voter registration was relatively low among Muslim-Americans.

OTHER DEMOGRAPHICS: Muslim-Americans skew young, with 36 percent age 18-29, double the rate for the general population. They’re more likely than other Americans to be single. Forty percent have at least a college degree, compared to 29 percent of Americans overall. Muslims may be slightly more likely than other Americans to report low household income.

Muslim Americans: A National Portrait represents the first-ever nationally representative study of a randomly selected sample of Muslim Americans. The results shed light on one of the most diverse religious groups in the United States, reflecting the economic, racial, and political diversity within America itself. Read the Report (PDF)