WASHINGTON – For many American Muslims, feelings of being targeted because of their faith is getting worse everyday as election season approaches.

In this video, the CNN offers a journey to three Muslim communities across the United States. Over and over, residents said the climate for Muslims this year is worse than it was after 9/11.

Over the past months, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has been accused of fueling anti-Islamic sentiment, pointedly calling for Muslims to be prevented from entering the United States in December last year.

The rhetoric has made a surge in anti-Muslim attacks.

In a 2015 hate crime statistics report, 16.1 percent of 1,140 religious hate crime victims were Muslim, up from previous years, despite the fact that overall hate crime numbers among other religious groups were declining, the FBI said.

Source: CNN