The White House insisted on Thursday that US President Barack Obama is a Christian who prays daily as it looked to tamp down growing doubts among Americans about the president’s religion.
White House spokesman Bill Burton made the remarks hours after a poll showed that nearly one in five people, or 18 percent, said they think Obama is Muslim.
That was up from 11 percent who said so in March last year. The survey also showed that just 34 percent said Obama is Christian, down from 48 percent who said so last year. The largest share of people, 43 percent, said they do not know his religion.
As Obama left for a vacation, Burton told reporters aboard Air Force One that most Americans care more about the economy and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and “they are not reading a lot of news about what religion the president is.”
“The president is obviously a Christian. He prays every day,” Burton said.
The survey, conducted by the nonpartisan Pew Research Center and its affiliated Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, is based on interviews conducted before the controversy over whether Muslims should be permitted to construct a mosque near the World Trade Center site.
Obama has said he believes Muslims have the right to build an Islamic center there, though he has also said he will not take a position on whether they should actually build it.
In a separate poll by Time magazine/ABT SRBI conducted on Monday and on Tuesday, 24 percent said they think he is Muslim, 47 percent said they think he is Christian and 24 percent did not know or did not respond.
In addition, 61 percent opposed building the Muslim center near the World Trade Center site and 26 percent said they favor it.
The Pew poll found that about three in 10 of Obama’s fiercest political rivals, Republicans and conservatives, say he is a Muslim.
That is up significantly from last year and far higher than the share of Democrats and liberals who say so. However, even among his supporters, the number saying he is a Christian has fallen since last year, with just 43 percent of blacks and 46 percent of Democrats saying he is Christian.
Among independents, 18 percent say Obama is Muslim — up from 10 percent last year.
Pew analysts attribute the findings to attacks by his opponents and Obama’s limited attendance at religious services, particularly in contrast with former presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, whose worship was more public.
Pew Research Center’s director Andrew Kohut, said the confusion partly reflects “the intensification of negative views about Obama among his critics.”
Alan Cooperman, the Pew Forum’s associate director for research, said that with the public hearing little about Obama’s religion, “maybe there’s more possibility for other people to make suggestions that the president is this or he’s really that or he’s really a Muslim.”
Despite the confusion about Obama’s religion, there is noteworthy support for how he uses it to make decisions. Nearly half, or 48 percent, said he relies on his religion the right amount when making policy choices, 21 percent said he uses it too little and 11 percent too much.
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