Monday, September 8, 2008

Obama and Religion

Polls tend to show about 1 in 10 Americans think Obama is a Muslim. Of course, about 1 in 10 also think cows can fly, but that's another post for another blog. One poll went as high as 15 percent, one as low as 8 percent, who thought Barack Obama was a Muslim.

He sure doesn't help himself with slips like the one below:



What people know about a candidate is in part created and crafted by the candidate, in part the product of the various media (news and entertainment) and in part the product of the opposition. This won't play a huge role in the election, though it'll be interesting to see if religion comes up a lot in the debates. Kerry got religion in 2004, Gore ignored it in 2000, Obama is all about it in 2008, so the Dems have kinda figured it out. The Republicans have never had a problem with talking about faith and I expect Palin to showcase this in her VP debate.

Be interesting if "Muslim" comes up in the Prez debates. I don't see McCain raising it, so that'll leave it to the moderators.

No comments: