Unfortunately, I think more people do NOT realize it, than do. I hope I am wrong, but I am not confident. Even after 9/11, people were calling it a religion of peace. When a sitting American President says that, we have a problem, though I don’t know what to do about it, other than keep talking to people about it.
The difference between then and now is, all the university students on down were not even born when 9/11 happened, so there’s an entire voting bloc (God help us) that actually believes that nonsense. And just after 9/11, although some did insist that it was a “religion of peace,” skepticism nevertheless ran high.
The difference between then and now is, whatever trust Americans had for Saracens living among them was guarded. Today, those of short memory (and those who, as above, were not around to experience 9/11) welcome mass immigration with open arms and go out of their way to avoid “offending” them.