Which political party do Muslims identify more with? Poll reveals shifting views
Pew Research Center data published July 21 revealed that 53% of Muslim adults identify with or lean toward the Democratic Party. Meanwhile only a slightly smaller share, 42%, identify with or lean toward the Republican Party.
The results come from the latest Religious Landscape Study — conducted between 2023 and 2024 — which surveyed 36,908 U.S. adults, including 273 Muslim respondents.
The figures come in stark contrast to those from previous years, which were more favorable for Democrats, indicating the party's 'advantage has shrunk considerably.'
In 2007, for example, 63% of Muslim adults identified with or gravitated toward the Democratic Party, while just 11% said the same for Republicans, according to a poll at the time. Similarly, in 2017, 66% of Muslim Americans favored the Democrats, while 13% favored the Republicans.
What's causing this shift?
Some observers have blamed former President Joe Biden's support for Israel's war in Gaza, seeing it as a key factor driving Muslims from the Democratic Party.
Some previous polls support this theory.
In an April 2024 Pew survey, 60% of Muslims said Biden was 'favoring the Israelis too much' in the conflict. And a July 2024 Institute for Social Policy Understanding (ISPU) survey found that the war in Gaza was the top concern for Muslim voters in three swing states.
However, the latest poll also reveals that, in some cases, Muslim Americans' political values align more with Republicans than Democrats — potentially factoring into the realignment.
For example, 63% of Muslim respondents said they believe children are better off when one parent stays home to take care of them. Sixty-six percent of Republicans and 45% of Democrats said the same.
Similarly, 55% of Muslims said 'homosexuality should be discouraged by society,' while 47% of Republicans and 13% of Democrats agreed.
On the other hand, there were cases in which Muslims' values aligned more with those of Democrats, according to the poll, which has a margin of error of 8.3 percentage points.
Seventy-one percent of Muslim respondents said they preferred bigger government — a statement that 79% of Democrats and 31% of Republicans agreed with.
And 82% of Muslims agreed that 'openness to immigrants is essential.' Meanwhile, 88% of Democrats and 50% of Republicans said the same.
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