A new survey reports a sharp increase in the number of Americans who, incorrectly, say President Obama is a Muslim. The increase has occurred over the last couple of years, and the poll was taken before the president stepped into the fray of the Ground Zero mosque controversy.

The findings are part of the "Religion, Politics and the President" poll conducted by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life early this month. It also explores Americans' attitudes toward religion's impact on society and voting preferences in the upcoming 2010 congressional races.

According to the survey, nearly one in five Americans (18 percent) say Obama is a Muslim, up from 11 percent in 2009. Obama is a Christian, but the number of people say Christian when asked his religion has gone down sharply, from 51 percent in 2008 to 34 percent today. And 43 percent say they don't know what religion the president follows.

Alan Cooperman, associate director of research for the Pew Forum, says, "I think overall the picture that we see is of uncertainty and confusion about the president and religion."

Cooperman also says, "When we simply ask people, 'Do you happen to know what is Barak Obama's religion?' it is only one-third of Americans who say he is a Christian. The largest single percentage, almost half of Americans, don't know what religion he is."

The survey also found there was a clear link between how people viewed the president's faith and how they viewed his political performance. Those who view Obama as Christian tended to have a very positive assessment of his job performance. Those who don't know his faith are split in their job approval ratings. And those who say the president is a Muslim give him a negative job approval rating.

But Dr. Clyde Wilcox, professor of government at Georgetown University, says what is driving the president's sinking approval ratings is the economy. "If the economy were resurrected from the dead like Lazarus, then you would see less of this," he said.

Wilcox added that because of the viral nature of the Internet, any ideas, wrong or right, about a politician's beliefs, can grow exponentially. Case in point: Sarah Palin's conservative evangelical beliefs became raw meat for liberals during her 2008 vice presidential campaign.

Two years later, a growing number of people see Obama as a Muslim.

"It's a troubling thing," Wilcox said. "I think it would be good for all of us to stop invading the president's spiritual privacy. We don't know what anyone's true faith is. It doesn't tell us about what their true core values are."

Cooperman speculates that people have more uncertainty about the president's faith because he's been less upfront about how he practices his religion. He doesn't attend church regularly, and there are no photos of him leaving a house of worship on Sunday morning with a Bible in hand.

"We really haven't heard a lot, he's not very public since he took office. The last time was the issue over Jeremiah Wright," Cooperman said.

Wright, the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Chicago, became a lightning rod for controversy in the 2008 presidential campaign. Obama, a longtime member of his church, distanced himself from Wright after snippets of sermon tapes emerged of the pastor saying inflammatory comments about America.

The Pew study also found that though the Republican party is viewed as friendlier toward religion than the Democratic party, both political camps lost ground in that category. In 2008, 52 percent viewed Republicans as being friendlier toward religion; today that number is down to 43 percent.

For Democrats, 2008 was a banner year. Their push to capture religious voters helped them appear more faith friendly with 38 percent of the people polled. But that number has slid to 26 percent today, back to where it was in 2006.

What this bodes for the 2010 midterm elections is hard to predict, Cooperman says. Most Americans, 61 percent, still think it's important for members of Congress to have strong religious beliefs, as compared to 34 percent who don't. Reading the tea leaves from the 2008 results can help. Exit polling data from that presidential election shows that the second biggest predictor for how someone will vote is religion. The first is race.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/08/19/nearly-americans-thinks-obama-muslim-survey-shows/

Wow, thats a lot!

yes, I fear america has become a land of puppets lead more by media spin than actual factual reporting

many still believe there is a death panel which will decide who lives or dies and that the government will be picking their doctor for them,,,

its really scary how successful the politics of fear has been

Name: Barry Sotero
Religion: Islam
Place of Birth: Indonesia.

Barry Sotero was the name his STEPPARENT chose for him as a child
the information was entered by his STEPPARENT when he was a child


as an ADULT (when we are free to decide for ourselves)

he was BAPTIZED at the trinity church(something that would be CONTRARY to Islam religion)


,,,

Pfffffft ... ^

Listen to what they SAY ...

BELIEVE what they DO ...

He has CONSISTENTLY favored MUSLIMS over CHRISTIANS.

I wasnt aware that promoting equality was the same as favoring,,,,,

go to you tube, there quite a few videos where obama says he's muslim

not ONE QUOTE of him saying "I am a muslim'....lol

lots of inferences from other things he has said though about growing up in muslim communities and being exposed to islam,,lol

Once a Muslim always a Muslim.That is why he won't show his real birth certificate.Because it says his religion is Muslim.Changing religions from Muslim to Christian is punishable by death.

Obama can say he is a Christian all he wants.When it comes to religion he is drooling all over Isalm.From the time he has took office I can't remember him saying anything at all about Christianity except to say America isn't a Christian nation.He doesn't go to church and he doesn't support Christian events or originations.

We knew George bush was a Christian.He cared less about Islam.

'promoting equality' ... right ... stay awake in class and you'll see he plays 'favorites' - his 'favorites' are MUSLIMS ... I guess the fact that his first post-election 'interview' was with Al-Jazeera was just an 'administrative screw-up' ...

not JUST a christian nation, like its not JUST a nation for the advancement of europeans ,,,,

will there ever be a president that'll make all 300,000,000 americans happy,nope cause of 2 things the democratic party and the republican party....case closed

Or, as in this case, MARXISM ...

hey i would control the "immigration" problem

Propaganda at work. They are doing it quite well. I admire their cleverness.

And who's fault is it? The people. They will believe everything the news media (read: propaganda networks) throw at them. Especially in dire economic times, where finger pointing and scapegoat searching just makes any propaganda a lot easier.

And who will benefit from it? Not you and not me, that's for sure. Always look for a motive, when dealing with propaganda. What's the motive? To reduce the democrats. Why? Because the GOP is a sour looser for 2 years now and they want to gain their formal power back.

Who's gonna win out of all this? Those, who have the better propaganda and finally can be in power.

Twenty-five words or less, please: How ... ?

yes it is, refer to the very foundations of your country.

i never thought anything was impossible but i think you got me there 25 words or less hmmmm

equality flew out the window when they robbed thousands of their lives. This isn;t about equality, it never was. If it was, you'd see a Christian church in Kandahar. Can anyone name one?? They have guns...SO DO WE!!! hows that for equality?