Rapid U.S. Muslim Assimilation Continues Alongside Rapid Muslim Immigration

Pew Research Center surveys of American Muslims have consistently shown a trend toward growing acceptance of mainstream American views, asI havewritten before.Pew ’s latest poll reveals the same pattern as those in the past. Despite the most hostile political environment for Muslims in many decades, U.S. Muslims continue to adopt the social views of other Americans.Over the latest decade, the share of Muslim immigrants and their childrenhas grown by 60 percent, from 1.7 million in 2007 to 2.6 million in 2017. The share of third generation or more Muslims has actually fallen from 28 percent in 2007 to 24 percent in 2017, which indicates that Muslim immigrants are taking part in this shift toward more liberal views. Muslim immigration, which is large in relative terms, is not retarding Muslim assimilation.Figure 1 U.S. Muslims By Generation in the United StatesSource: Pew Research Center (2017).Pew has no surveys before 2007, but the best survey estimate for year 2000 placed the total Muslim population at 1.9 million (Smith (2002)).Perhaps the most notable shift revealed in the Pew data is the change in Muslim American opinion toward homosexuality. The share that reports society should accept homosexuality has nearly doubled in 10 years from 27 percent in 2007 to 52 percent in 2017. As Figure 2 shows, 61 percent of U.S. Muslims in 2007 supported “discouraging” homosexuality. Since then, this share has fallen almost in half, dropping from 61 percent to 33 percent. As Ihave...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs