WASHINGTON, April 26 (UPI) -- Nearly half of participants in a UPI-Zogby International poll said Mideast foreign policy drives American Muslims' opinion of the U.S. government.
Some 47.5 percent of U.S. respondents said U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East was the most important factor in driving the opinion of American Muslims regarding the U.S. government.
And 25.9 percent said assimilation in U.S. culture was the most important factor.
There is no breakdown of Muslim responses but they would be included in the "other/none" subset of responses regarding religion. That group represents about 20 percent of the overall sample. The main variance in the answers was that 54.6 percent of the "other/none" group said U.S. foreign policy drove Muslims' opinion.
Generally, much wider percentages of those on the left of the political spectrum listed U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East as most important. That could be due to the fact that a Republican administration is currently making the foreign policy decisions.
A total of 5,932 U.S. residents participated in the April 13-16 Zogby interactive poll. There is a margin of error of 1.3 percentage points.
