surveyed
Poll held before Ground Zero mosque furore finds 18% of people believe
US president is Muslim, not Christian
Mark Tran
Friday August 20 2010
guardian.co.uk
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/19/americans-believe-barack-obama-muslim
Almost one in five Americans believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim,
according to a new poll, despite his public statements about his
Christian faith.
The survey by the Pew Research Centre [http://people-press.org/report/
645/" title="] found that 18% now say that the US president is a
Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009. Only about one-third of adults
(34%) say Obama is a Christian, down sharply from 48% in 2009. Forty
three percent say they do not know Obama's religion.
The survey was completed in early August, before Obama's recent
comments [http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/18/ground-zero-
mosque-republican-attacks" title="] about the proposed construction of
a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Centre, which have
landed him in political hot water. The president has said he believes
Muslims have the right to build an Islamic centre there, but refrained
from taking a position on whether or not it should actually be built
two blocks from Ground Zero. The issue has become politically charged
ahead of congressional races in mid-November, with Republicans
accusing Obama of being out touch with mainstream America.
The Pew Research Centre noted that the belief that Obama is a Muslim
has increased most sharply among Republicans, (up 14 points) since
2009, especially conservative Republicans (up 16 points). But the
number of independents who say Obama is a Muslim has also increased
significantly (up eight points). There has been little change in the
number of Democrats who say Obama is a Muslim, but fewer Democrats
today say he is a Christian.
The White House is concerned that beliefs about Obama's religion are
linked to political judgments about him. 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.
Those who are unsure about Obama's religion are about evenly divided
in their views of his performance.
The White House blamed "misinformation campaigns" by the president's
opponents.
"While the president has been diligent and personally committed to his
own Christian faith, there's certainly folks who are intent on
spreading falsehoods about the president and his values and beliefs,"
Obama's faith adviser, Joshua DuBois, told the Washington Post [http://
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/18/AR2010081806913.html?hpid=topnews"
title="].
DuBois pointed to six speeches on faith that the president has given
in which he talked about his beliefs, but said coverage of Obama's
Christianity has been scant compared with news about the economic
crisis, legislative battles and other issues.
Pew analysts attribute the findings to attacks by his opponents and
Obama's limited attendance at religious services, particularly in
contrast with presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton. Andrew Kohut,
the Pew Research Centre's director, said the confusion partly
reflected "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, Barack Obama Sr. Obama Sr was
raised Muslim.
Between the ages of six and 10, Obama lived in predominantly Muslim
Indonesia with his mother and Indonesian stepfather.
During the election campaign, rightwing commentators such as Rush
Limbaugh used his full name, Barack Hussein Obama, in an attempt to
portray him as somehow un-American. Rightwingers also spread the false
allegation that Obama had attended a madrassa [http://edition.cnn.com/
2007/POLITICS/01/22/obama.madrassa/" title="] in Indonesia.
guardian.co.uk Copyright (c) Guardian News and Media Limited. 2010
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the "USA-Africa Dialogue Series" moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin.
For current archives, visit http://groups.google.com/group/USAAfricaDialogue
For previous archives, visit http://www.utexas.edu/conferences/africa/ads/index.html
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue-
unsubscribe@googlegroups.com
No comments:
Post a Comment