NEW YORK: If we go by a survey conducted by the New York Times, a majority of New York City residents are against the proposed Muslim community center and mosque near ground zero. They want it to be relocated to a less controversial site farther away from ground zero in Lower Manhattan. This is also the view of those who describe themselves as supporters of the project.
67 percent said that while Muslims had a right to construct the center near ground zero, they should find a different site.
The poll indicates that support for the 13-story complex, which organizers said would promote moderate Islam and interfaith dialogue, is tepid in its hometown.
According to a New York Times poll nearly nine years after the Sept. 11 attacks, many in the country’s biggest and arguably most cosmopolitan city still have an uneasy relationship with Islam. One-fifth of New Yorkers acknowledged animosity toward Muslims. Thirty-three percent said that compared with other American citizens, Muslims were more sympathetic to terrorists. And nearly 60 percent said people they know had negative feelings toward Muslims because of 9/11.
Over all, 50 percent of those surveyed oppose building the project two blocks north of the World Trade Center site, even though a majority believe that the developers have the right to do so. Thirty-five percent favor it.
Opposition is more intense in the boroughs outside Manhattan — for example, 54 percent in the Bronx — but it is even strong in Manhattan, considered a bastion of religious tolerance, where 41 percent are against it.
The poll was conducted Aug. 27 to 31 with 892 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
A respondent John Dewey said : “We can’t say all Muslims are terrorists,” he said. “There is a huge population of Muslims throughout the world, and we will have to deal constantly with them in the future. If we make enemies constantly, then we will constantly have war.”