Note: Another interesting religion and politics survey released by the highly respected Pew Research Center for the People and the Press.
You can read the whole thing here.
-- David.
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Belief that Obama is Muslim is Durable, Bipartisan
– but Most Likely to Sway Democratic Votes
by Michael Dimock, Associate Director, Pew Research Center for the People & the Press
July 15, 2008
The New Yorker magazine's controversial cover has renewed focus on public misperceptions of Sen. Barack Obama's faith. Despite recurrent media attention to the issue -- including extensive coverage of his association with the controversial Protestant cleric, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright -- the incorrect perception that the Democratic presidential candidate adheres to the Muslim faith or to another non-Christian faith has remained remarkably constant over the course of the 2008 election campaign. The belief that Obama is Muslim, however, appears to have virtually no effect on Republican voters -- who overwhelmingly support McCain in any case. But Democrats who share the misperception are significantly less likely to support Obama.
In the latest survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 12% say Obama is Muslim, virtually unchanged from 10% in March. This misperception is not limited to voters who oppose Obama. Identical percentages of Republicans and Democrats (12% each) think he is Muslim, and the link between views of Obama's religion and their candidate choice vote is strongest among Democrats.
Believing Obama to be Muslim is not a strict litmus test to voters. Among the 12% who say he is Muslim, a slim majority (51%) backs McCain. However, 37% who hold this view say they intend to vote for Obama. Among the majority who identify Obama as Christian these figures are reversed, with 52% backing Obama for president and 39% backing McCain. Overall, 63% of the voters who say they back Obama for president correctly identify him as Christian, but another 9% say he adheres to the Islamic faith.
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There's another item on the survey of note:
McCain's Lead Among Evangelicals Smaller than Bush's in '04
Religiously Unaffiliated Voters Strongly Favor Democratic Candidate
July 17, 2008
Republican presidential candidate John McCain has a smaller lead among white evangelical Protestants than Republican George W. Bush had at a similar point in the 2004 campaign, even though Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama has made few inroads into this key constituency. Those who are unaffiliated with a particular religion, on the other hand, are just as supportive of the Democratic candidate as they were at this point in the 2004 campaign and are substantially more supportive of Obama than they were of Democratic candidate Al Gore in June 2000. Meanwhile, there still is a major divide in candidate preference between those who regularly attend worship services and those who seldom or never attend services. These are among the key findings of a recent poll conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press, a sister project of the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.