High levels of Americans worried about antisemitism, Islamophobia: Gallup

High levels of Americans are concerned about antisemitism and Islamophobia, a new Gallup poll found, though serious concern is significantly higher for antisemitism.

The new poll found that 81 percent of Americans believe that antisemitism in the United States is “somewhat” a problem or a “very serious” problem. This is significantly higher than the 57 percent of Americans who said the same when asked the question in 2003, Gallup noted.

It is also higher than the 74 percent of Americans who see Islamophobia as somewhat or seriously a problem. The gap is even larger among those most concerned; 33 percent of Americans labeled prejudice against Muslim people as a “very serious” problem while 49 percent said the same of antisemitism.

Gallup found that older Americans are especially concerned about antisemitism, with 66 percent of respondents aged 65 and older and 55 percent of Americans aged 50 to 64 saying it is very serious. In comparison, just 36 percent of those under 50 years old said the same.

The poll found 34 percent of those older than 65 said prejudice against Muslim people is very serious, while 32 percent of respondents aged 50 to 64 said so. Thirty-two percent of those under 50 also said prejudice against Muslim people was a serious issue.

The poll found some partisan splits regarding concerns about antisemitism and Islamophobia. Sixty-three percent of Republicans said they had serious concerns about antisemitism while just 18 percent had the same concerns about prejudice against Muslim people.

Similar shares of Democrats were concerned about antisemitism and Islamophobia. Forty-nine percent said antisemitism was a very serious problem while 50 percent said prejudice against Muslim people was.

The poll comes amid a jump in anti-Muslim incidents and antisemitic incidents across the country. The incidents spiked in the wake of the Palestinian militant group Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel, which prompted Israel to launch a war against the group in Gaza.

The poll was conducted May 1-23 among 1,024 adults via telephone interviews. The margin of error is plus or minus 4 percentage points.