Islamophobia spikes during presidential elections, not after terrorist attacks.

Evidence

Despite the wishes of the extremists, it may come as a surprise that anti-Muslim sentiment in the United States spikes not when there is a major terrorist attack but instead under more routine—and predictable—circumstances. The statistician Dalia Mogahed has closely examined the data since 2001, and she found that public opinion concerning Muslims didn’t fall precipitously after the 9/11 attacks, didn’t dip after the Boston bombing, and didn’t plummet after the Orlando shooting. Public sentiment has hardened against Muslims, however, at regular and identifiable moments, namely every four years, when our country is embroiled in a presidential election. What this means is that Islamophobia in the United States is not merely a matter of personal opinion or private bias but has become a political phenomenon to be exploited by our politicians. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 1005

Categorization

• SEED: Article angle: party elites and their advisors exploit foreign-policy hawks’ predictions about the public mood.
• QUESTION: What explains the mechanism — campaign rhetoric or media amplification? Worth chasing Dalia Mogahed’s original data.