page_title: Islam in the United States
section_title: Politics
hierarchical_section_title: Islam in the United States / Politics
caption_attribution_description: English: Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN05)
context_page_description: Islam is the third largest religion in the United States, after Christianity and Judaism. A 2017 study estimated that 3.45 million Muslims were living in the United States, about 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population. Pew Research Center has subdivided the Muslim community and their percentages into three subsets, namely Sunnism, Shi'ism and non-denominational Muslims.
  American Muslims come from various backgrounds and, according to a 2009 Gallup poll, are one of the most racially diverse religious groups in the United States. According to a 2017 study done by the Institute for Social Policy, “American Muslims are the only faith community surveyed with no majority race, with 25 percent black, 24 percent white, 18 percent East Asian, 18 percent Arab, 7 percent mixed race, and 5 percent Hispanic”.
  In addition, 50 percent of Muslims are native born while the other 50 percent are foreign born, and 86 percent are citizens. Many native-born American Muslims are African Americans who make up about a quarter of the total Muslim population. Many of them have converted to Islam during the last seventy years.
context_section_description: In the 2000 Presidential election, nearly 80 percent of Muslim Americans supported Republican candidate George W. Bush over Democratic candidate Al Gore. However, due to the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq which took place under the Bush Administration, as well as what some call an increased anti-Muslim rhetoric from the Republican Party after the September 11 attacks, support for the Republican Party among American Muslims has declined sharply.
  By 2004, Bush's Muslim support had been reduced by at least half, who would vote for Democratic candidate John Kerry or a third party candidate.
  By 2008, Democratic candidate Barack Obama got 67% to 90% of the Muslim vote depending on region. Some of his opponents question Obama's religious faith; see Barack Obama religion conspiracy theories.
  In a 2017 Survey done by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, only 15% of American Muslims wanted Donald Trump to win the 2016 presidential election, compared to 54% wanting Hillary Clinton to win.
  According to a 2018 poll from the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, American Muslims were as satisfied with the American trajectory as the general public, reporting at around 27%. Regarding the 45th president of the United States, Donald Trump, Muslims are the least likely to approve of him across all faith groups including non affiliated Americans. This compares to, "17% of non-affiliated Americans, 31% of Jews, 36% of Catholics, 41% of Protestants, and 72% of white Evangelicals".
  American Muslim Political Engagement is increasing, as 75% of American Muslims surveyed by ISPU reported being registered to vote, an increase of 15% from 2016 data. In January 2019, Sadaf Jaffer became the first female Muslim American mayor, first female South Asian mayor, and first female Pakistani-American mayor in the United States, of Montgomery in Somerset County, New Jersey.
caption: Ilhan Omar (pictured) and Rashida Tlaib are the first Muslim women elected to serve in Congress.
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