Seven out of ten New Yorkers participating in a New York poll, want the proposed Muslim community centre and mosque to be relocated away from Ground Zero in Lower Manhattan.
Over 50% of those surveyed have opposed building of the project two blocks north of the World Trade Centre site, even though a majority believe that developers have the right to do so. Of the respondents, 35% favour it.
The poll also found that a fifth of New Yorkers acknowledging animosity toward Muslims while 33% said that compared with other American citizens, Muslims were more sympathetic to terrorists.
And, nearly 60% said people they knew had negative feelings toward Muslims because of 9/11.
The poll result shows that the debate over the proposed religious center is the talk of the city. 66% said they had heard or read a lot about it, and follow-up interviews with respondents showed that the topic was leading to emotional and searching conversations in living rooms and workplaces.
“My granddaughter and I were having this conversation and she said stopping them from building is going against the freedom of religion guaranteed by our Constitution. I absolutely agree with her except in this case. I think everything in this world is not black and white, there is always a grey area and the grey area right now is sensitivity to those affected by 9/11, the survivors of the people lost,” the New York Times quoted, Marilyn Fisher a resident of the Bensonhurst neighborhood of Brooklyn, as saying.
Richard Merton said, "Freedom of religion is one of the guarantees we give in this country, so they are free to worship where they chose. I just think it’s very bad manners on their part to be so insensitive as to put a mosque in that area."
The poll was conducted between August 27 to 31 with 892 adults. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus three percentage points.
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