FRANKFORT — Public misconception is widespread in Kentucky about Barack Obama's faith, a Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll shows.
Despite heavy national media attention about Obama's faith, more than half of likely Republican voters — 54 percent — and one of every four Democrats in the state do not know that the Democratic presidential nominee is a Christian, the poll found.
The poll showed that 14 percent of likely Kentucky voters — 28 percent of Republicans, 4 percent of Democrats and 11 percent of independents — think Obama adheres to the Muslim faith.
"With all the media attention to the fact that Obama is a Christian, it is shocking and sad to hear that any Kentuckian or anyone thinks he is a Muslim," said Mahmoud Sha lash, imam of the Islamic Center of Lexington.
"I am concerned that some people are spreading this rumor for political purposes, trying to exploit the anti-Islamic sentiment in this country that ties Muslims with terrorists," Shalash said. "I don't blame the ignorant bigots as much as the educated people who try to perpetrate this."
The telephone poll of 600 likely voters was conducted Oct. 19-21 by Research 2000, of Olney, Md. It has a margin of error of 4 percentage points.
Those polled were asked the religion of Obama and his GOP opponent, John McCain. Respondents were not offered suggestions to choose from.
Sixty-one percent said Obama was a Christian. One percent answered Catholic, 12 percent said other and 12 percent were not sure.
Eighty-two percent said McCain was a Christian. Six percent called him an evangelical, while 3 percent answered Catholic, 2 percent replied other and 7 percent were not sure.
Del Ali, president of Research 2000, said he'd like to ask those respondents who said Obama is a Muslim if they listen to syndicated conservative talk show hosts Rush Limbaugh and Sean Hannity.
Ali also thinks many people know Obama considers himself a Christian but don't believe he is one. "That's a personal opinion from national polls I've seen on this issue," he said.
The non-partisan Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life says Obama's denomination is United Church of Christ and McCain, raised an Episcopalian, attends a Southern Baptist church. It also says Obama's running mate Joe Biden, is a Roman Catholic, and McCain's running mate, Sarah Palin, attends several evangelical churches in Alaska.
Obama's campaign had little to say about the poll results.
"This election is about issues," said Obama spokesman Dan Leistikow. "It's about whether voters in Kentucky and across the country want another four years of the same failed policies that caused this economic mess and sent Kentucky job overseas."
Kentucky Republican Party Chairman Steve Robertson said the presidential candidates' religion has not been an issue in Kentucky. He said more Republicans than Democrats think Obama is a Muslim because Obama "has made an effort in Kentucky to portray his religious beliefs to Democrats but has not talked about religion to Kentucky Republicans."
Robertson said he was referring to fliers the Obama campaign distributed in Kentucky this spring during the Democratic primary election that showed Obama at a pulpit in front of a church's cross and pipe organ.
The erroneous perception that Obama is a Muslim might be due in part to the fact that he spent part of his childhood in a Muslim country and that his father was a Muslim, said the GOP official.
Obama's name makes some people think he is a Muslim, said Walter A. Johnson, director of information services for the Lexington Theological Seminary.
"I had a friend who said Obama is a Muslim because of his name," Johnson said. "I said McCain has an Irish name, but I think he's an American."
Republican Larry Forgy, who narrowly lost to Democrat Paul Patton in Kentucky's 1995 race for governor, said Obama's heritage is why some people think he is a Muslim.
"I know he's not a practicing Muslim but, to me, his preacher, Jeremiah Wright, sounds more like Malcolm X than Billy Graham."
Wright is the former pastor and now pastor emeritus of the Trinity United Church of Christ, a megachurch in Chicago with about 10,000 members.
His manner of preaching has been scrutinized in connection with Obama's campaign. Obama first denounced some of Wright's statements and then resigned his membership in the church last May.
Martin Cothran, senior policy advisor for The Family Foundation of Kentucky, a conservative activist group based in Lexington, said he is "surprised that so many people don't know Obama is not a Muslim."
"I think it's simply because his name sounds Islamic," he said.
Laila Al-Qatami, communications director for the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee in Washington, D.C., said it is "disheartening" that any American still thinks Obama is a Muslim or Arab.
"Too many people associate Muslims with terrorists, that is, a proclivity to violence or people who are not patriotic to this country," Al-Qatami said. "Calling Obama a Muslim is an attempt to discredit him."
The Herald-Leader/WKYT Kentucky Poll found little confusion among voters about McCain's faith. More than 80 percent of the respondents in each major political party — Democrats, Republicans and independents — said McCain is a Christian.
A large percentage of whites and blacks — 83 percent of the whites and 77 percent of the blacks — said McCain is a Christian
But for Obama, blacks and whites viewed his religious beliefs very differently. When whites were asked Obama's religion, 58 percent said Christian, 16 percent Muslim, 1 percent Catholic, 13 percent other and 12 percent not sure.
Eighty-two percent of blacks said Obama is a Christian, while only 2 percent of blacks considered him a Muslim.
