American Muslims are more likely than their counterparts in the rest of the world to feel accomplished and successful even if they feel socially alienated from mainstream society, according to a poll published Monday. Muslim-Americans had a more positive outlook on the world than Muslims in other countries but also experienced higher levels of discontent than other religious groups in the U.S. according to the poll by the Gallup Organization. Racially and politically diverse but very religious, Muslim Americans are younger and more highly educated than the typical American but resemble Americans in their outlook on life more than that of Muslims in predominantly Muslim countries.
The Gallup survey Muslim Americans: A National Portrait, was conducted by the Gallup's Center for Muslim Studies, is the first of its kind to conduct research on a random selection of American Muslims. Out of 300,000 people interviewed by telephone, Gallup identified 946 Muslims who were selected for the study.
"It is a national portrait in every sense of the word," Magali Rheault, senior analyst with the Gallup's Center for Muslim Studies told AlArabiya.net. "We found that American Muslims signified the mosaic that is America."
Muslim-Americans were found to be thriving more than Muslims in nearly every Muslim-majority country but were less content than other religious groups in the U.S. at 41 percent, 15 percent below Jewish-Americans, for example.
The poll found that Muslims in Saudi Arabia and Germany ranked higher than U.S. Muslims under the "thriving" category, with Saudi Arabia ranking the highest at 51 percent followed by Germany at 47 percent. But less than 20 percent of Muslims in Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Bangladesh, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan were thriving while those who were "suffering" ranged between 20 and 45 percent.