The Economist has a disturbing new poll on the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero, and it has some rather disturbing numbers. Among them, only 50 percent "think that Muslims have a constitutional right to build a mosque there," 57 percent of Democrats and only 32 percent of Republicans. I haven't seen the internals, but more Republicans (58.5 percent) think they know "a great deal" or "some" about Islam, while only about 47 percent of Democrats say the same. Given how Republicans consume media and the fact that Republicans overwhelmingly (88 percent) disapprove of the decision to build the center, I'm guessing what they think they know about Islam is a gross distortion of what Islam actually is and who Muslims actually are, because more than 80 percent of Republicans have an unfavorable or very unfavorable view of Islam. For Democrats, it's 48 percent, nearly a majority.
That leads me to the most disturbing part of the poll, which is the finding that 48 percent of Americans think there are places where Muslims should not be allowed to build mosques where other houses of worship would be permitted, including 14 percent who think mosques should be banned outright.
I'm going to reiterate what I said earlier about same-sex marriage, which is that prejudice does not cease being prejudice because it is widely held. Among both parties, prejudice against Muslims is widely held, and instead of tamping down this kind of sentiment, Republican leaders are exploiting it for political gain, and many Democrats are following along.
Finally, the point of constitutional rights is that they aren't subject to the capricious whims of contemporary political anger. They exist to protect everyone, but they exist particularly to protect the rights of the minority against the tyranny of the majority, precisely because popular people and ideas rarely need protecting.
Look, the savvy and cynical can point out that political leadership isn't the best place to go looking for courage, but this kind of prejudice does real and lasting damage not just to the social fabric of American society, but to the very foundation of the legal regime that protects the civil rights of all Americans. These things matter more than any number of votes or positive poll numbers, and political leaders should be defending constitutional rights, not indulging in ugly populist rhetoric that erodes them.
UPDATE: This sheds a bit of light on why Republicans express their disapproval of Obama by identifing him as a "Muslim," and why conservative elites fan the perception. People don't like Muslims very much, and if you can associate Obama with Muslims, people will like him less as well. It also reinforces what I said earlier, which is that Republicans don't think constitutional rights apply to Muslims because they don't see Muslims as American.
UPDATE II:
Kendra makes an important point in the comments:
Adam, I had the same reaction as you initially, but after another look at the wording I reconsidered. You report that "48 percent of Americans think there are places where Muslims should not be allowed to build mosques where other houses of worship would be permitted." But the actual wording of the poll is not "should it be allowed," but "would it be appropriate." This is a subtle but important distinction. Given the current focus on one building and location in particular, I think it's fair the say that at least a portion of those 34% are in the "they should have the right, but I don't think they should build it there" camp. That may still make us cringe, but it's less depressing than the idea that 48% polled want a special exception for Islam from the First Amendment.
