American people

I guess I was naive in believing that the people of America are generally reasonable and non-discriminatory. After all, there was a public apology issued to the Japanese Americans who were locked up in internment camps after WWII and I like to think the American public was generally in agreeance with the decision to issue such a statement. But then I come across an article which states that a survey found that nearly half of Americans think it's OK to restrict the civil liberties of Muslim Americans. It's a relatively small sample, 715 people throughout the nation, but still the results are telling. They are, actually, really scary. Here's a snippet:

The survey conducted by Cornell University also found that Republicans and
people who described themselves as highly religious were more apt to support
curtailing Muslims' civil liberties than Democrats or people who are less
religious.
Researchers also found that respondents who paid more attention
to television news were more likely to fear terrorist attacks and support
limiting the rights of Muslim Americans.