Poll: Seventy Percent Don't Know What Religion Obama Is

[babylonsister]

http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/horsesmouth/2007/12/poll_seventy_pe.php

Poll: Seventy Percent Don't Know What Religion Obama Is
December 20, 2007 -- 12:15 PM EST // //


Here's something that gives you a sense of what's at stake in fights like the big dust-up with The Washington Post over their now-notorious piece front-paging the Obama Muslim rumors without declaring them false.

Via Ben Smith, check out this interesting number buried in the new NBC/Wall Street Journal poll suggesting that a huge majority have no idea what religion Obama belongs to:

On a similar open-ended question, just 17% correctly identified Obama as being a Protestant (Church of Christ), 2% said he’s Catholic, 8% said he’s a Muslim, and a whopping 70% said they weren’t sure or refused to answer.

While the eight percent who have this wrong and believe Obama is a Muslim isn't a huge number, the 70% who don't know Obama's religion is a massive amount. The "rumor" that Obama is a Muslim is "out there," and presumably at least some of the people in the 70% category are susceptible to believing it. This would be particularly true if Obama were to win the nomination, since if this happened there's little doubt that the "rumor" would suddenly be getting circulated a lot more aggressively than it is now. And of course there will also be plenty of people who are inclined towards believing this.

The point is that the startling level of public ignorance on this question drives home very vividly just what's at stake when readers demand that news orgs aggressively call out this rumor as false, as they've started to do. If one media outlet calls the rumors false, then another one does, and another, and so on. And with a little luck, you end up with an electorate that's semi-informed on this question.

Okay, maybe that's a bit optimistic. But we can push for it anyway.

[glowing]

1. I wish I didn't know what religion any of them were, quite frankly. n/t

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. ...

:toast:

[demnan]

2. I didn't know what religion he is

but I also knew he wasn't Muslim. I don't think most people care what flavor of Protestantism he is. I assume the reason he had some clergy on the campaign with him earlier was to dispel the rumor.

Although I'd vote for a Muslim, I guess there are people who wouldn't, just like there are going to be people who won't vote for him because he's black. That's going to be an issue of concern if he's the nominee.

[Bitwit1234]

3. And you can add who in the devil cares. The could all be atheist

for all a lot of us care.

[babylonsister]

5. Well, let's see. Clinton staffers and supporters care or they wouldn't

be shoving that meme down the throats of people who are paying attention. :think:

[liberal N proud]

4. I care what religion Obama is WHY?

My point is that is is none of my business what if any religion Obama or any other candidate practices so long as he fully supports the Constitution. That is what we are hiring a president for, not to preach.

[Beacool]

6. Frankly, I couldn't care less if Obama was a Muslim.

I don't intend to vote for him for other reasons, but I couldn't care less if a candidate is Christian, Jewish or even Muslim. We need to grow up in this country!

[killbotfactory]

8. Why call it false, when it obviously is?

Much better to speculate on whether it is false or not. You know, fair and balanced coverage.