American Attitudes About Muslims Improve, Survey Finds : Islam: More respondents now think group faces bias than did those in ’92 poll, Arabic-language newspaper says. But about half still say they are fanatics.

American attitudes toward Islam and Muslims have improved slightly in recent years, although nearly half of those polled in the aftermath of the Oklahoma City bombing believe “Muslims tend to be religious fanatics,” according to the results of a poll by an international Arabic-language newspaper.

The survey, commissioned by Asharq al Awsat, a daily newspaper based in London, was planned before the April 19 Oklahoma City bombing but, by chance, was conducted during the six days after the blast.

Initial media and law enforcement speculation over who was responsible for the bombing centered on Middle East Islamic extremists. As it became clear that there was no Islamic connection to Oklahoma City, attitudes toward Muslims improved steadily, said James J. Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, a Washington-based public policy and lobbying group, which released the survey results Thursday.

The day after the explosion, 43% of those surveyed agreed that “there is a tendency to discriminate against Muslims” in the United States. By April 24, 55% agreed. The six-day average was 48%.

Forty-two percent agreed with that statement when a similar poll was conducted in 1992, leading Zogby to conclude that overall, American attitudes toward Muslims have improved somewhat.

He also took heart in the number of those polled who declined to answer “yes” or “no” in response to survey questions. Between 25% and 30% of the respondents to all the questions said they were “not sure” or had “no opinion.”

“That’s a more sophisticated response than a knee-jerk ‘yes’ or ‘no’ and indicates people are withholding judgment until they know more,” he said. “That’s good news for Muslims.”

*

The survey’s findings were more favorable toward Muslims than expected in view of what Zogby called continuing media distortion of the 3- to 5-million-member American Muslim community.

Because the media tend only to pay attention to Muslims “in times of crisis,” Zogby said, “the perception that gets created is, ‘Where Muslims go, trouble will soon follow.’ ”

With that in mind, he said, the survey results “could have been a lot worse.”

Still, he acknowledged, negative attitudes toward Muslims and Islam remain widespread among Americans. About 45%, for example, said, “Muslims tend to be religious fanatics,” up 2% from 1992. Thirty-seven percent agreed that “Muslims tend to lead clean and respectable lives,” down 1% from the earlier survey.

Thirty-five percent agreed that “the vast majority of Muslims hate terrorism,” up 1% from 1992. More than 39% of the men polled agreed with that statement, compared to only 31% of the women.

John Zogby--James’ brother and the president of John Zogby Group International, the New York-based polling organization that conducted the survey--said he believes that American women are more negative toward Islam and Muslims because “their perception is that Islam tends to discriminate against women and is unfair to women.”

The survey polled 1,004 adults nationwide and has a margin of error of 3.2%.