The latest national survey by the Pew Research Center finds that 17 percent of registered voters say Obama is Muslim and 49 percent say he is Christian, while 31 percent say they do not know Obama’s religion.
The percentage of voters identifying Obama’s religion as Christian has increased since August 2010, from 38 percent to 49 percent, while there has been little change in the percentage saying he is Muslim—19 percent then, 17 percent today.
Still, fewer say Obama is Christian—and more say he is Muslim—than did so in October 2008, at the end of the last presidential campaign. The increase since 2008 is particularly concentrated among conservative Republicans, 34 percent of whom describe the president as a Muslim.
This comes despite the huge publicity and uproar given the fact that Obama’s pastor in Chicago held some starkly anti-white views.
The huge number holding to such an idea raised many questions. There was some speculation that people who dislike Obama because he is black may just be using the Muslim label to express disgust with him since anti-black attitudes are in wide disfavor while anti-Muslim attitudes are more acceptable in some parts of America.
The survey also found that 60 percent of voters are aware that Romney is Mormon, virtually unchanged from four months ago, during the GOP primaries.
The vast majority of those who are aware of Romney’s faith say it doesn’t concern them. Fully eight-in-ten voters who know Romney is Mormon say they are either comfortable with his faith (60 percent) or that it doesn’t matter to them (21 percent).
Overall, just 45 percent of voters say they are comfortable with Obama’s religion, while 19 percent are uncomfortable. Among those who say Obama is Christian, 82 percent are comfortable with Obama’s religious beliefs. Among those who describe him as a Muslim, 26 percent are comfortable with his beliefs, a rather odd result.
There is a much stronger partisan component in views of Obama’s religion than Romney’s. More than a third (36 percent) of Republican and Republican leaning registered voters say they are uncomfortable with Obama’s religion, while 16 percent of Democratic voters say they are uncomfortable with Romney’s religion.