WASHINGTON — Americans increasingly are convinced — incorrectly — that President Barack Obama is a Muslim, and a growing number are thoroughly confused about his religion.
Nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, said they think Obama is Muslim, up from the 11 percent who said so in March 2009, according to a poll released Thursday. The proportion who correctly say he is a Christian is down to just 34 percent.
The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they don't know his religion, an increase from the 34 percent who said that in early 2009.
The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site. Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he's also said he won't take a position on whether they should actually build it.
In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted Monday and Tuesday — after Obama's comments about the mosque — 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent didn't know or didn't respond.
In addition, 61 percent opposed building the Muslim center near the Trade Center site and 26 percent said they favor it.
The Pew poll found that about three in 10 of Obama's fiercest political rivals, Republicans and conservatives, say he is a Muslim. That is up significantly from last year and far higher than the share of Democrats and liberals who say so. But even among his supporters, the number saying he is a Christian has fallen since 2009, with just 43 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Democrats saying he is Christian.
Among independents, 18 percent say Obama is Muslim — up from 10 percent last year.
Pew analysts attribute the findings to attacks by his opponents and Obama's limited attendance at religious services, particularly in contrast with Presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, whose worship was more public.
Andrew Kohut, the Pew Research Center's director, said the confusion partly reflects "the intensification of negative views about Obama among his critics." Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forum's associate director for research, said that with the public hearing little about Obama's religion, "maybe there's more possibility for other people to make suggestions that the president is this or he's really that or he's really a Muslim."
Obama is the Christian son of a Kenyan Muslim father and a Kansas mother. From age 6 to 10, Obama lived in predominantly Muslim Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather. His full name, Barack Hussein Obama, sounds Muslim to many.
White House officials did not provide on-the-record comments on the survey, but they prompted Pastor Kirbyjon Caldwell of Houston to call The Associated Press.
Caldwell, who said he has known Obama for years, said the president is a Christian who prays every day. He said he was not sure where the public confusion about the president's religion came from, but he called false media reports about it "a 24-hour noise box committed to presenting the president in a false light."
Six in 10 of those saying Obama is a Muslim said they got the information from the media, with the largest portion — 16 percent — saying it was on television. Eleven percent said they learned it from Obama's behavior and words.
Despite the confusion about Obama's religion, there is noteworthy support for how he uses it to make decisions. Nearly half, or 48 percent, said he relies on his religion the right amount when making policy choices, 21 percent said he uses it too little and 11 percent too much.
At the same time, the poll provides broad indications that the public feels religion is playing a diminished role in politics today, with fewer people than in 2008 saying the Democratic and Republican parties are friendly toward religion.
With elections for control of Congress just over two months away, the poll contains optimistic news for Republicans. Half of white non-Hispanic Catholics, plus three in 10 unaffiliated with a religion and a third of Jews, support the GOP — all up since 2008.
The survey also found:
- The Democratic Party is seen as friendly to religion by 26 percent, while 43 percent say the same about the GOP. That's a 9 percentage point drop for Republicans since 2008, and 12 points lower for Democrats.
- Fifty-two percent say churches should stay away from politics, a reversal of the slim majorities that supported churches' political involvement from 1996 to 2006.
The poll, overseen by Princeton Survey Research Associates International, involved landline and cell phone interviews with 3,003 randomly chosen adults. It was conducted July 21-Aug. 5 and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.
Masterrogue666 posted at 9:22 am on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
Several news networks have reported his ties to radical groups. This is one link of MANY:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/02/opinion/main4145761.shtml
I don't care what religion he is. I judge a man by his actions. He FORCED Obamacare on the nation, when the nation did not want it. He tried to sneak in amnesty for MILLIONS of criminals, when the nation doesn't want it.
He's acting contrary to the will of the MAJORITY of US citizens. I wish that could be considered treason, so we could impeach him....
Accuracy posted at 10:42 am on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
Poll: Growing number incorrectly call Obama Muslim ??
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Surprise……. according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center a growing number of Americans believe and ARE CONVINCED that President Barack Obama is Muslim.
This new Pew poll was completed in early August, before Obama defended controversial plans to build a mosque and Muslim cultural center near the site of the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York.
And according to the poll: 34 percent of them say Obama is a Muslim, which is an increase from 18 percent in the March 2009 survey.
Maybe the Associated Press will contact Reverend Jeremiah Wright for comments on this survey.
There are a number of practical crimes that once investigated could lead to Obama’s impeachment and perhaps even his well deserved imprisonment.
Reality posted at 11:46 am on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
I can understand why many may believe he is a Muslim and why some may disagree what with his past association with the Rev. Wright church.
But the only church or religion the President belongs to is the religion of "Obamaism."
The most self centered, arrogrant person to occupy that office in many, many years. The man is the ultimate politician (and that is not a complement) and after winning the Presidency he continues to "run."
Once gaining the office he now does not know how to do the job he ran for. He is using the office for his personal ego gratification and R&R from the campaign trail.
What an international embarrasment!
AZMomma posted at 12:36 pm on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
Never overestimate the intelligence of those that follow Beck, Palin and Limbaugh.
Add to that the constant barrage of garbage tossed at the Sheeple from their Fundamentalist pulpits. These folks are so paranoid they believe anything told to them.
Add to that the wimpy Kumbaya persona of Obama, where he tries to placate everyone and behaves like he's been emasculated - we have the perfect candidate for the Jimmy Carter Award.
Muslim? Nope, just half-WHITE confused liberal with poorly formed self-image.
Mesa Citizen posted at 1:51 pm on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
BS - 0bAma
The Pope is Catholic...
0Bama is a Muslim...
-and a Bear $hits in the woods...
Mesa Citizen posted at 1:52 pm on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
BS - 0bAma
The Pope is Catholic...
0Bama is a Muslim...
-and a Bear $hits in the woods...
Mesa Citizen posted at 1:53 pm on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
BS - 0bAma
The Pope is Catholic...
0Bama is a Muslim...
-and a Bear $hits in the woods...
Slabside posted at 2:21 pm on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
Dress a gorilla in a tuxedo, he's still a gorilla. This WH liar is Muslim through and through.[sad]
DrunkenMonkey posted at 2:55 pm on Thu, Aug 19, 2010.
If it smells like a dead fish... well....then....it must stink...
retired03 posted at 4:50 am on Fri, Aug 20, 2010.
love all the so called experts in here. You would not believe the sky is blue even if Jesus himself came down and told you so. The ignorance is amazing. This is supposed to be an intelligent society.
Masterrogue666 posted at 5:38 am on Fri, Aug 20, 2010.
Hey retired03- Didn't Jesus say, "Judge ye not, lest ye be judged?"?
Rich posted at 10:12 am on Fri, Aug 20, 2010.
retired03
retired,
Actually if you have studied theology and reasoning systems, then listened to Obama, it would be easy to conclude that he is a Muslim. Since he spent some of his formative years in an Islamic school in an Islamic nation, this is hardly odd. However the conclusion that he embraces at least some of the basic beliefs of Islam might not be based in ignorance at all.