ACTION

Ignorance perhaps. But a majority of Americans polled believe Muslims will attack Islamophobes here in America. via Americans Think Charlie-like Attack Likely Here – Rasmussen Reports™.

Americans are hesitant to link the terrorist massacre in Paris this past week to the true beliefs of Islam, but many worry a similar attack on those critical of the religion in the United States could happen in the near future.

Sixty-five percent (65%) of American Adults believe it is at least somewhat likely an attack on those critical of Islam will happen in this country in the next year. A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 26% think an attack similar to the one against the satirical Parisian publication Charlie Hebdo which mocked radical Islamicists is unlikely to happen here. This includes 29% who say such an attack is Very Likely and just five percent (5%) who say it’s Not At All Likely. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

Even before the Paris incident, 86% of Likely Voters said radical Islamic terrorism is a threat to the United States.

It has been reported that the attackers in Paris shouted an Islamic expression of faith and also that they had avenged the prophet Mohammed after they killed several people in the magazine’s office. However, only 24% of Americans think the actions of the killers represent the true beliefs of Islam. Fifty-two percent (52%) don’t think their actions represent the faith, but another 24% are not sure.

By comparison, just 16% think the Taliban in Afghanistan represent true Islamic beliefs, and 27% say that of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

At the same time, most Americans (60%) don’t think it’s religious discrimination to refer to the killers as Islamic terrorists. Twenty percent (20%) do think it is discrimination to label the killers this way, but just as many (20%) aren’t sure.

The national survey of 800 American Adults was conducted on January 8-9, 2015 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3.5 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Seventy-four percent (74%) of Americans are following news reports about the terrorist incident in Paris, including 37% who are following it Very Closely. The more closely one is following the story, the more likely he or she is to believe a similar attack could happen here and that the killers represent the true beliefs of Islam.

Women and Americans under 40 are less likely than men and older adults to believe the killers in Paris represent true Islamic beliefs and feel less strongly that a similar attack will occur in the United States.

But Americans of all ages agree that referring to the killers as Islamic terrorists is not religious discrimination.

Read it all. If only Americans knew what was in store for them. If only the media and politicians did their jobs. History tells us.