
Despite the continued US media attention on presumptive Democrat Presidential candidate Barack Obama’s faith, 12 per cent of Americans believe that he is a Muslim.
According to the latest survey conducted by the Pew Research Center, this misperception is not limited to voters who oppose Obama. In fact, identical percentages (12 per cent) of Republicans and Democrats think he is Muslim.
But questions about Obama’s faith may have an effect beyond those who flatly say Obama is Muslim, because additional 25 per cent of the voters say they don’t know what Obama’s religious beliefs are.
Republican voters in the survey overwhelmingly support John McCain irrespective of their belief about Obama’s religious faith. But the new Pew Research poll finds that questions about Obama’s faith appear to have a strong influence on candidate preference among the Democrats who either believe Obama is Muslim or who don’t know because they’ve heard different things.