Over the past 20 months, the percentage of Americans who believe the religion of Islam encourages violence against non-Muslims has doubled, according to an ABC News poll.
Less than half of Americans now call Islam peaceful and one in three believe it encourages violence against non-Muslims, the survey said.
ABC said a poll taken four months after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, showed 14 percent believed mainstream Islam encourages violence. Today it's 34 percent.
The survey also showed a sharp rise in people who think Islam does not teach respect for the beliefs of non-Muslims – 22 percent in the previous poll compared to 43 percent today.
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