The latest Pew Poll (in which Barack Obama leads John McCain 48-40) asks registered voters what religion they think Barack Obama is. Only 57% say that he's Christian. 12% say Muslim. Another 25% don't know. 1% say he's Jewish! (Must be that Aipac speech):
ASK ALL WHO ARE REGISTERED TO VOTE OR PLAN TO REGISTER (REGICERT=1 OR Q.4=1):
Q.50 Now, thinking about Barack Obama’s religious beliefs… Do you happen to know what Barack Obama’s
religion is? Is he Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, atheist, agnostic, or something else?
[INTERVIEWERS: IF DON’T KNOW PROBE: “Is that because you’ve heard different things about
his religion, or because you just don’t know enough about him?”
]
BASED ON REGISTERED VOTERS [N=1574]:
March
2008
Christian (include volunteers of: Protestant,
57 Church of Christ, Trinity Church, Baptist, Methodist, etc.) 53
1 Jewish *
12 Muslim (include Islam/Islamic) 10
* Buddhist *
* Hindu *
* Atheist *
* Agnostic *
2 Something else 1
10 Don’t know - Heard different things (VOL.) 9
15 Don’t know - Haven’t heard enough
(VOL.) 253 Refused (VOL.) 2
100 100
57% seems awfully low. On the other hand, you'd think that Obama, with a few hundred billion dollars to spend, should be able to get that number up to 75% or so by November, which would have to add a couple points to his total support.
--Jonathan Chait