Why do more people think Obama is a Muslim?

[Swede]

snip

One hypothesis proffered by Newsweek and Jack Shafer is that some Americans are just dumb. They believe in stuff like ghosts and astrology, so why not this about Obama?

That doesn't get us very far. It seems hard to imagine that Americans suddenly got dumber between March 2009 and August 2010, when the Pew polls were conducted.

A second hypothesis comes from political scientist Brendan Nyhan, who notes that there have been numerous attempts by some media commentators and political leaders to insinuate that Obama is Muslim.

http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezra-klein/2010/08/why_do_more_people_think_obama.html

[Boojatta]

1. political leaders or political misleaders?

[HuckleB]

2. The second hypotheses is the likely matter, I suspect.

[muntrv]

3. The lamestream media aids and abets the reich wingers.

[babylonsister]

4. faux and the gop, and maybe this...

How 30 Million DVDs Sent In 2008 Election Fuel The Anti-Mosque Debate Today

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=9013518

[quinnox]

5. Its not hard to think that

Obama is a foreign sounding name, has Hussein as his middle name, was born to a Muslim father, and does not get pictured going to church or speak about his Christian faith much. There is also the right wing noise machine constantly talking about this too.

So, therefore for many Americans they think he is a Muslim. Because they don't have time to find out the truth and are not political junkies like most DUers.

In other words there is a lot of smoke there but you have to look closer to see there is no fire.

[Odin2005]

18. Actually, his dad was an Atheist.

[safeinOhio]

6. They call him a muslum

because they can't use the word they really want to call him in polite society. It's the new code word for brown people.

[Jamastiene]

11. I thought it was muslin.

Or are they trying to learn how to spell now?

[KT2000]

7. Local paper had a poll

asking if people thought he was a Muslim, Christian, or I don't know, or I don't care.
The Muslim numbers went up fast - the fastest though was I don't care.

I think people know he is not Muslim but their hatred of him causes them to say he is to discredit him. It amounts to name-calling.
The RW media has more or less instructed them to behave this way.

[LiberalFighter]

14. Time for name calling. I call all those Obama haters devil worshippers.

Descendants of Judas. Herodites.

[KT2000]

16. OK - Sounds right!

:rofl:

[Bitwit1234]

8. They believe Obama is a Muslim because

they want to. That's the only reason. Look at the break down of those that do. Republicans. First he was a black radical going to Wright's church. When that didn't take off for good. They republicans are now getting people to believe he is a Muslim and the 25% that do are the radical republicans.

[nevergiveup]

15. Yep

or because they need to.

[eShirl]

9. because they yearn to be led by voices spouting hate?

[Jamastiene]

10. There are more dumb people than we originally thought...

and they are all crawling out from under their rocks, en masse. That is most likely the answer.

[KG]

12. yep, a muslin that spent years attending the baptist church of a radical christian cleric.

:eyes:

[JerseygirlCT]

13. "insinuate"?

I think that's not quite the word. Claim, assert, declare... take your pick.

As to "why"? Because at the same time, they've been making a case (here more insinuated, perhaps) that "Muslim" equals "terrorist". Nicely putting the two together makes Obama the great, scary, evil, black, Muslim terrorist president. It's quite the perfect dog whistle for frightened, ignorant people.

[Odin2005]

17. It's code for "N***er".

[Egalitariat]

19. The same reason a lot of people would think Howard Stern is Jewish

Because they think that being Catholic, Muslim, or Jewish is an ethnic identity as opposed to a religious one. Generally people think that if your mother is Jewish or your father is Muslim, then so are you.

Two Catholic parents have Catholic children according to the same thought process.

I don't see the same thinking about Presbyterians or Methodists and I have no idea why that is.

[LiberalAndProud]

20. They read it in the Globe.

There is a concerted effort by people with means to make people believe that he is.

I googled 'Arc of the Covenant' today, because I intended to make a snarky comment about GlennBleck's spirit of god nonsense.

What I found made my eyes bleed. It is obscene.

[ladjf]

21. I don't think that "more" people believe that Obama is a Muslim.

They don't know or care what he is. The furor is simply another stink bomb political strategy to weaken the President's position. nt

[Swede]

23. It's right there in the article I linked to.

More people do now,than when he was elected,according to the PEW poll.

[flvegan]

22. Anyone who thinks Obama is a Muslim is a fucking idiot.

There. Answer in 11 words.