Doubts about Obama's faith persist among GOP faithful (especially southern Republican voters)
By BYRON TAU |
3/12/12 2:26 PM EDT
The incorrect belief that President Obama is Muslim is alive and well among some southern Republican voters, according to a new poll.
According to the latest PPP survey, a full majority — 52 percent — of Mississippi Republicans polled say that Obama is a Muslim, with only 12 percent of voters correctly identifying him as a Christian. Another 36 percent surveyed report that they are unsure about the president's faith.
In Alabama, PPP finds that 45 percent of GOP voters report that Obama is a Muslim, with 41 percent uncertain. Only 14 percent correctly identify Obama as a Christian.
"We’d never polled that anywhere else so I didn’t really know what to expect," PPP director Tom Jensen said in an email. "But I’m not terribly surprised by the numbers, especially in the context of the level of birtherism we found still existing in Georgia, Ohio, and Tennessee last week. I think those issues are closely related. With both the religion thing and the birther thing I’m not totally sure all these voters really think that Obama is a Muslim or that he was born in Kenya or Indonesia or wherever—I think it may be more a function of people who hate Obama expressing that negativity in any way they can to the point of making these odd claims about his personal identity."
http://www.politico.com/politico44/2012/03/doubts-about-obamas-faith-persist-among-gop-faithful-117169.html