Nearly one in five Americans incorrectly say President Obama is a Muslim, up from 11% last year, according to a Pew Research Center poll released today.
In the survey, about one-third of Americans correctly say Obama is a Christian, down from 48% who said so last year. In all, 43% say they do not know what religion Obama practices.
The survey “shows a general uncertainty and confusion about the president’s religion,” said Alan Cooperman, associate director of research with the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.
The survey of 3,003 adults was taken July 21-Aug. 5, before Obama endorsed a Muslim group’s right to build a mosque and Islamic cultural center near the site of the 9/11 attacks in New York City. Those comments, made last weekend, added to the firestorm over the location of the mosque.
On Wednesday, Obama said at an event in Ohio that he has “no regrets” about his comments.
Responses in the poll tended to fall along ideological lines, Pew found. About one-third of self-described conservative Republicans said they believe Obama is a Muslim.
“Those who say he is a Muslim overwhelmingly disapprove of his job performance, while a majority of those who think he is a Christian approve of the job Obama is doing,” said a Pew report about the poll. Pew found that “even among many of his supporters and allies, less than half now say Obama is a Christian.”
Obama has spoken frequently about his Christian faith, including at the annual National Prayer Breakfasts and at a White House event celebrating Easter this year with Christian leaders. He receives a daily devotional prayer sent to his BlackBerry device.
As a candidate, Obama participated in a forum led by prominent Christian pastor Rick Warren, in which he said his “starting point” is “Jesus Christ died for my sins, and that I am redeemed through him.”
Cooperman said one possible reason for confusion over Obama’s religion is that people may not perceive the president as being as forthcoming about the subject compared with President George W. Bush. The Pew survey, however, showed that 48% say Obama relies on his religious beliefs the “right amount” when making policy decisions, compared with 53% for Bush.
Cooperman said he is glad the survey was done before Obama weighed in on the New York mosque because controversies can cause “temporary blips in public opinion.”
Obama said Friday, “Muslims have the same right to practice their religion as everyone else,” which includes building “a place of worship and a community center on private property in Lower Manhattan, in accordance with local laws and ordinances.”
The next day, he sought to clarify his remarks: “I was not commenting, and I will not comment on the wisdom of making the decision to put a mosque there.”
(Source: USA Today)
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13 Responses
I guess his Blackberry is Christian, as it receives the prayer every day.
Obama himself is a Rev. Jeremiah Wright “Chassid”.
a patriotic, USA loving president he is definatly not. was voted in by the leftist, communist, USA hating shmutz with baught off votes from shmutz like soros whos was used to into into slums to buy votes. and rmrber theose black phanters who intimidated voters and were aquitted by holder of course ‘umatzah min es mino’oh, where do we get presidents like ragen, eisenhour, truman etc
shimen,
Are you Neturei Karta? Any more Presidents like Eisenhower and we won’t have a State of Israel any more. He openly threatened Israel in 1956, siding with Egypt in the Suez war in 1956. By comparison, Obama has increased military cooperation with Israel to an unprecedented level.
While I can’t state with certainty that he practices Islam, I am sure that it is Islam he admires. He preaches about that religion almost daily (with the facade of reaching out…). Never really said anything great about any other religion, and feels it neccesary to protect Islam all the time. Take this mosque story for instance. It was basically a local issue (besides the objection of many national politicians e.g. Gingrich, Palin and… Hikind of course) and syndicated talkshow hosts. He gave those remarks without being asked (as say, the Harvard police story) for his opinion but willingly to defend the constituion… And that wasn’t a case where the feds were battling a local decision (as is the Arizona situation) rather an approved measure by the boards and city. Fact is, he received a Muslim education (and was registered Muslim) in Indonesia and feels for them.
This silliness is not only racist and insulting, but detracts from the real problem: his inept economic and other policies.
Shimen,
B”H McCain & Palin did NOT get elected even though shmutz like you probably voted for them.
charliehall, Moose613, and akuperma, you all miss the point. The head of the ZOA has stated for the record that the Obama administration is the most hostile to Israel ever. The fact that Obama is Muslim means that he harbors sympathies towards Islam and is insensitive to the people who have elected him and who he has a constitutional obligation to. He has given support to the Cordoba Initiative. Do you mind if there is a mega-mosque 13 stories tall built diagonally across the street from Ground Zero?
shimen (#2) – You’d feel at home in a totalitarian regime; they too call their political opponents unpatriotic filth. As a Yid, haven’t you learned anything as to the danger of such craziness?
this goes to show goebbels y’sv was fairly correct, repeat a lie enough times & people (at least some) will believe it–
as Lincoln said: “you can fool some of the people all of the time”
I agree with Commenter No. 4.
With this country now dominated by Yishmael (the President) and Eisav (the Republican opposition, who advocate unlimited availability of guns, per “Al Charbechah Tichye”), we hope and pray for the Bias Goel Tzedek BiMeheira VeYameinu, Amen.
Your Sister- you’re off your rocker-“the fact that Obama is muslim”- HE’S NOT!
Your Sister- it’s also not a “13 story mega mosque” (further distortion & misinformation) most of the building is a cultural center, with gym etc
I hope if they build it, it’s built somewhere else, it’s too divisive
Although Obama is not a practicing muslim he defenitly has a strong muslim background , and he is very sympathetic to muslims in many ways. Both his father and grandfather were practicing muslims. As a young boy while living in Indonesia(the worlds largest muslim country) he attended a school where he was registered as a muslim. In his autobiography ,Dreams from my father he acknowledges studing the Quran and he describes his school as a “muslim school”.Reporters in 2008 spoke with his childood friends who said they remember him praying in a mosque as a child. Personaly I dont understand why it took the Ground Zero mosque comments for people to see where his sympathy lies. Whether he is preventing Israelies from building in there capital or doing nothing as Iran gets ever so close to having nuclear weapons. He is also the first president to get endorsed by Hammas.(because they like his policies about Israel.)