Why Do More Americans Think Obama is a Muslim?
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Food for Thought
Rick ShenkmanA substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined. More than a year and a half into his presidency, a plurality of the public says they do not know what religion Obama follows.
A new national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that nearly one-in-five Americans (18%) now say Obama 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. Fully 43% say they do not know what Obama's religion is. The survey was completed in early August, before Obama's recent comments about the proposed construction of a mosque near the site of the former World Trade Center.
The view that Obama is a Muslim is more widespread among his political opponents than among his backers. Roughly a third of conservative Republicans (34%) say Obama is a Muslim, as do 30% of those who disapprove of Obama's job performance. But even among many of his supporters and allies, less than half now say Obama is a Christian. Among Democrats, for instance, 46% say Obama is a Christian, down from 55% in March 2009.
Twice today I was asked by columnists why the number of people who believe he's a Muslim might be growing. Eleanor Clift and Clarence Page both were interested in the subject.
Here's what I told them. One explanation is simply that the debate about Obama being a Muslim has largely been one-sided since he became president. Since he moved into the White House he's no longer devoting resources to knock down rumors and half-truths as he did during the campaign, when he created a website to address these issues. So the rumors, which have continued non-stop, gain more and more currency.
In addition, the environment in which we are living is making us more susceptible to untruths and rumors. The more anxious we become about the future (and we are very anxious right now) the more susceptible millions of us are to myths that make sense of the world. The myth that Obama is a Muslim helps define him as The Other. That is an appealing myth to people who wonder what the hell has gone wrong with this country. In anxious times we often seek to make sense of the world by dividing it into Them and Us. It's a natural tribal instinct. By placing Obama in The Other camp we can"explain" why our position in the world seems to be declining.