The differences are not due to a lack of familiarity. Republicans are just as likely as Democrats to know someone who is a Muslim. About a third in each party know a Muslim (independents are even more likely than those who identify with either party to say they know a Muslim; that is partly due to the fact that half of those under the age of 30 know someone, and the youngest adults are least likely to identify with either party). But Republicans who know a person who practices Islam are just as negative about the religion and about the sympathies of those who practice it around the world as those Republicans who do not.
Another difference is that Republicans are more likely –by nearly two to one — to see ISIS attacks as harming Christians even more than they have harmed fellow Muslims.
While there have been recent attacks on Christians by ISIS, the group has spent much more time fighting with other Muslims. Many Americans of both parties are aware that there are Muslim countries in the anti-ISIS coalition, but about half the public doesn’t know this.
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