December 20th, 2015 | http://lobelog.com/trump-and-company-deepens-divide-on-arabs-and-muslims/#more-32307

Trump and Company Deepens Divide on Arabs and Muslims

by James J. Zogby
Donald Trump and his GOP colleagues have exposed the depth of the divide in attitudes over the role of American Muslims in US society. The results of a recent Zogby poll establish that the divide is more existential than merely rhetorical, and is more demographic than simply partisan. It has become a matter less of competing political philosophies and more a question of the attitudes of the groups that now make up the mainstream of each party.  
To be clear, fear of Muslims is not just a function of what this or that candidate says, because what the candidates are saying is a reflection of what the significant parts of the constituent base each party believes. And the two major parties are increasingly defined by the distinct demographic groupings of Americans that make up their core supporters.
When Republican candidates, for example, maintain that Muslims should not be trusted, that Muslim immigrants be banned, or that Muslims should be profiled, or when candidates pledge to block President Obama’s commitment to bring Syrian refugees to the US, or claim that Obama is a closet Muslim—they are echoing the views of a strong majority of Republican primary voters. Our polling bears this out and it is a reality that must be understood and addressed.http://lobelog.com/trump-and-company-deepens-divide-on-arabs-and-muslims/#more-32307