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Evaluating Resistance toward Muslim American Political Integration

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 December 2020

Brian R. Calfano ,
Nazita Lajevardi  and
Melissa R. Michelson
Brian R. Calfano
Affiliation:
University of Cincinnati
Nazita Lajevardi*
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
Melissa R. Michelson
Affiliation:
Menlo College
*
Address correspondence and reprint requests to: Nazita Lajevardi, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan. E-mail: nazita@msu.edu
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Abstract

Muslims in the United States are often constructed as anti-American and are perceived to have little engagement with politics. Moreover, Arab and Muslim identity is often conflated in the public mind. In this note, we introduce results from a randomized survey experiment conducted in three states with varying Muslim populations—Ohio, California, and Michigan—to assess how trustworthy respondents rate a local community leader calling for unity when that individual signals themselves to be an Arab, Muslim, or Arab Muslim, as opposed to when they do not signal their background. Across the board, and in each state, respondents rate the community leader as less trustworthy when he is identified as Muslim American or as Arab Muslim, but not when he is identified as Arab. These results suggest that the public does not conflate these two identities and that Muslims are evaluated more negatively than Arabs, even when hearing about their prosocial democratic behavior.

Type
Note
Information
Politics and Religion , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , September 2021 , pp. 512 - 525
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Religion and Politics Section of the American Political Science Association

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