WASHINGTON, 10 March 2006 — There are some days you just want to throw up your hands in despair — and today is one of them: A new US poll reveals that nearly half of Americans hold a negative view of Islam.

The survey also found that one in three Americans have heard prejudiced comments about Muslims lately. In a separate question, slightly more (43 percent) reported having heard negative remarks about Arabs. One in four Americans admitted to harboring prejudice toward Muslims, the same proportion that expressed some personal bias against Arabs.

The Washington Post and ABC News poll, released yesterday, found that 46 percent of Americans have a negative view of Islam, a figure that is seven percent higher than in the months after the Sept. 11 attacks, the Post reported.

Those polled who believe Islam helps fuel violence against non-Muslims has more than doubled since the attacks, from 14 percent in January 2002 to 33 percent today.

Several Mideast experts told the Post the poll results did not surprise them as they feel the Arab world has been demonized in the US since 2001.

Juan Cole, a professor of modern Middle Eastern and South Asian history at the University of Michigan said Americans “have been given the message to respond this way by the American political elite, the mass media and by select special interests.”

A surprising item from the poll found that even Americans who said “they understood Islam” and who viewed the religion as peaceful and respectful, also said it harbors harmful extremists and were no less likely to have prejudiced feelings against Islam.

A total of 1000 randomly selected Americans were interviewed March 2-5 for the poll.

The Post quoted a school bus driver in Chicago, Gary McCord, 65, who said he’s dealt with many children of Arab descent. “Some of the best families I’ve ever had were some of my Muslim families. They were so nice to me.”

But the Post said his good feelings do not extend to Islam. “I don’t mean to sound harsh or anything, but I don’t like what the Muslim people believe in, according to the Qur’an. Because I think they preach hate,” he said.