WASHINGTON -- A wide majority of Muslims in the United States say they feel President Donald Trump is "unfriendly" toward them, but 92 percent of respondents in a new survey said they are “proud to be American.”
The Pew Research Center survey released on July 26 also said about half of U.S. Muslims questioned in the study said they have received expressions of support during the past year from other Americans because they are Muslim.
The survey, conducted from January 23 to May 2 2017, contacted 1,001 Muslim adults who live in the United States through landlines and mobile telephones. Questions were asked in English, Arabic, Farsi, and Urdu.
It was Pew’s third study of U.S. Muslims, with the first coming in 2007 and another in 2011.
Trump has been criticized for some of his contentious public statements on Muslims in the United States and overseas.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump released a statement saying, "Donald J. Trump is calling for a total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on."
Since taking office, Trump has pushed hard for a temporary ban on visitors from several mainly Muslim nations.
This year also marked the first time in nearly 20 years that the White House did not host a dinner marking the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The Pew survey stated that 74 percent of respondents saw Trump as "unfriendly toward Muslims," while 12 percent saw him as "friendly."
That was a turnaround from the 2011 survey, when 64 percent said they saw President Barrack Obama as "friendly," and 5 percent considered him as "unfriendly."
