Americans Leery of Muslim Veep

Buried beneath the presidential horserace questions in Wednesday’s Quinnipiac University poll was a question revealing a deep level of unease in American about Islam: How would people feel about the prospect of a Muslim vice president?

Overall, 41 percent admitted they would be “not so comfortable” or “not at all” comfortable with the idea. Among Republicans, that figure was 65 percent. The level of unease was far higher than for any other demographic group asked about in the survey.

Overall, 41 percent admitted they would be “not so comfortable” or “no at all” comfortable with the idea. Among Republicans, that figure was 65 percent.

Asked about the prospect of a gay or transgender vice president, for instance, only 24 percent of respondents said they would be not so or not at all uncomfortable. Fully half said they would be “very comfortable” with the idea of an LGBT veep.

Kyle Shideler, the director of threat assessment at the Center for Security Policy, said he believes the poll reflects a “recognition that a lot of the very politically active Islamic organizations in this country are very pro-Islamist and [people] sense that they are anti-American.”

In that context, Shideler said, people questioned about their views of a Muslim vice president may be thinking about the kind of Muslim who might be in a position to seek high office. Although the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) routinely denounces terrorist acts, Shideler pointed to the organization’s connections with the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas.

[lz_table title=”Uneasy About Idea of Muslim Veep” source=”Quinnipiac University Poll”]Reaction to vice president who is:
|,Muslim,LGBT
Very comfortable,34%,50%
Somewhat comfortable,22%,23%
Not so comfortable,14%,11%
Not at all comfortable,27%,13%
Don’t Know,3%,4%
[/lz_table]

Shideler also noted that CAIR often mixes its condemnations of violence with suggestions that the United States shares the blame for terrorist outbursts. Los Angeles CAIR Director Hussam Ayloush, for instance, told CNN after the San Bernardino, California, terrorist attack last year: “Let’s not forget that some of our own foreign policy, as Americans, as the West, have fueled that extremism.”

Said Shideler: “There’s a level of cognitive dissonance.”

[lz_poll id=164730 widget=1 width=300 height=250 align=right]

Quinnipiac also found that 40 percent of Americans — and 73 percent of Republicans — support a temporary ban on non-citizens from entering the United States. Some 62 percent also said anti-terror policies have not gone far enough to protect the United States.

The numbers suggest that Trump’s calls for re-examining America’s anti-terror policies and immigration system could resonate in November — as long he is not seen as unfairly targeting average, law-abiding people. That question will not be answered for another four months or so. But the survey results also suggest that the two Muslim members of Congress, Reps. Keith Ellison and André Carson, probably should not expect a surprise phone call from Democrat Hillary Clinton inviting either of them to join her ticket next month.