Nearly 20 Percent of People in America Think Obama is a Muslim

President Barack Obama has been under a lot of controversy ever since he was sworn into office in 2009. Throughout the past year, a lot of controversy has swirled over his religious beliefs and affiliations. It seems that the religion of Obama has gained more criticism, as more people are questioning whether or not he is a Christian.

According to the Christian Science Monitor, a recent poll finds that nearly 20 percent of the American public believes that Obama is a practicing Muslim. In the Pew Research Center poll, 18 percent of people when asked believed incorrectly that Obama is Muslim and not Christian. Sixty percent of people who believe Obama is a Muslim say that they learned the information from the media. Of those people, 16 percent said the they learned it from the television, 6 percent said it was from a newspaper, and 3 percent said it was through magazines.

Obama's religious beliefs have always been a topic of heated debate, even before the election in 2008. Obama was a member of a church for 20 years where Jeremiah Wright was the former pastor. Wright has caused severe controversy relating to anti-American political views and often derogatory statements about the United States. The debate swirled around Obama after the Wright scandal, and more people began to question his true religious beliefs.

Obama was also famously criticized for not wearing a lapel of the American flag on his suit on a few different occasions. The public misperception might impact the President in a lot of negative ways, given the state of feelings toward the Muslim religion. Being a Muslim has always been hard in America, and the attacks on the World Trade Center made it even worse. Today, there are a lot of anti-Muslim feelings around America because of what happened on that day.

I have a feeling that the Democratic Party's public reception and electoral prospects will decrease this year. It could be easy to interpret Obama's religious beliefs as those of a Muslim because of various feelings or emotions he conveys. Obama is often sympathetic to the Muslim community, which might be a reason why so many believe he is a Muslim. His actions speak louder than his words, and some of the things he has done could make you question his true faith in Christianity.

With so much controversy around Obama and his beliefs, the Democratic Party will have a hard time with the elections this November. The public perception of Obama has been looking grimmer every month, because there is always something new to criticize him about. I think there will be backlash from people all over America this November, and partly it is due to Obama's questionable religious beliefs. If Obama really wants to show people he is not a Muslim, then he needs to really change how he handles America and explain his past affiliations.

Peter Grier, "Why do 1 in 5 Americans think President Obama is a Muslim?", The Christian Science

Pew Research Center Staff, "Growing Number of Americans Say Obama is a Muslim", Pew Research Center