Arab Americans optimistic about their lives even as most perceive discrimination, poll finds
A rare nationally representative poll of Arab Americans finds a community strikingly optimistic about its future in the United States even as most of its members perceive widespread prejudice, The Washington Post reported Saturday, citing a Washington Post-Schar School survey.
Seventy-eight percent of Arab Americans said they have a good chance of improving their standard of living, compared with 40 percent of Americans overall, the Post reported, even as two-thirds said they are dissatisfied with the country's direction. Two in three consider themselves a “typical American,” and almost 8 in 10 said being American is as important to their identity as their religion or ancestry.
About 3.5 million U.S. residents trace their roots to one of 22 Arab countries or places, according to the Census Bureau. The poll, conducted Aug. 20-Sept. 7, reached 412 adults in that demographic through random sampling, with most results focused on the 358 respondents who personally identified as Arab; the margin of sampling error is plus or minus 6.7 percentage points. Twenty-one percent reported Palestinian heritage, roughly a fifth Egyptian ancestry and a similar share Lebanese roots, with smaller numbers tied to Syria, Jordan and Morocco. A little more than half were immigrants and 27 percent were second-generation, the report said.
Eight in 10 perceived “some” or “a lot” of prejudice against Arabs and Muslims in the U.S., and most thought the same was true for Jews, Hispanics and Asians, according to the report. Almost half of respondents were Muslim and almost a third Christian; 87 percent felt free to practice their religion. One in four said they or a relative had struggled in the past two years with immigration issues, such as being questioned by airport security or having trouble entering or leaving the country.
Ahead of the midterm elections, the Post reported, many respondents were pleased to see more Muslims running for office, and most said they felt comfortable expressing their opinions on politics and other sensitive topics.
The Post cited voices across the community: Sonia Alshami, 37, a California real estate investor whose father moved from Yemen, said “you can change the trajectory of your life here just by working hard.” Majdi Sharif, 55, a Palestinian American business owner in New Jersey, pointed to rising costs, with his monthly health insurance bill up from $45 to $400 after federal subsidies expired. Ahmad Addelhalim, 34, a Palestinian American baggage handler in Chicago, recounted a stranger shouting “Arab!” at his wife, who wears a hijab, yet said he flies an American flag next to his Palestinian flag, adding: “As much bad as there is in this country, there is a lot of good.”
Randa Kayyali, 56, a Palestinian American educator and author in Sarasota, Florida, told the Post she worries the picture of the community will get harder to draw if the Trump administration follows through on a proposal to cut race and ethnicity questions from the 2030 census. She attributed her simultaneous capacity for despair and hope to sumud, Arabic for “steadfastness,” describing it as standing firm, riding out the bad times and enjoying the good times.