According to a new poll by the Public Policy Polling center, 45 percent of Alabama Republicans and 52 percent in Mississippi believe President Barack Obama is a practicing Muslim. (The poll questioned around 600 “likely Republican primary voters” in each state.)
Yet a casual glance at Twitter suggests that close to zero percent of Twitterers believe this. The phrase “Obama is Muslim” started trending after the poll’s release on Monday afternoon, yet even before this, a search of “Obama is Muslim” on Twitter shows that most people consider the phrase, “I believe Obama is a Muslim” synonymous with “I am an overly credulous idiot.”
Four days before the PPP poll’s release, college student John Micro tweeted, “I love when professors rip apart people’s stupid theories on the world. Today’s example was this woman who thinks Obama is Muslim.” That same day, Dave Lewis linked to a Snopes article debunking the claim “A Chevy Volt costs seven times as much to run as a regular car.” Lewis first heard that false statistic “thanks to the same coworker who thinks Obama is Muslim!”
Shawn Lucas felt it was un-Christian for anyone to suggest Obama isn’t Christian himself: “Another Christian breaks 9th Commandment by bearing false witness Obama is “Muslim at heart.””
Despite such examples, the phrase “Obama is Muslim” remained relatively rare on Twitter until Monday’s poll, when incredulous Twitterers made facepalming commentary: “45% of Alabama GOPs think Barack Obama is Muslim. Hilariously, these same people thought Dick Cheney was Christian,” said one. Another noted: “Anti-Obama ppl say, Obama is Muslim. Obama says, I’m Christian.I wish US prez would be able to say, ‘I’m an atheist’”
The PPP poll covered several topics. Obama’s religion wasn’t the only one generating discussion on Twitter, merely the most popular. @Bossip tweeted the poll with a partial headline:
“Race Matters: Southern Republicans Still Think President Obama Is Muslim And Believe Interracial Marriage Should…”
Due to Twitter’s 140-character limit, there was no room for the complete headline: “Believe interracial marriage should be legal.” Two-thirds of Alabama Republicans and 54 percent in Mississippi believe this, according to the poll. That’s roughly the same percent who disbelieve evolution, which shocked Stacy Herbert: “Woah. 66% of Republican voters in Mississippi do not believe in evolution & 52% believe Obama is Muslim”
You might not think Miley Cyrus fans have much in the way of political savvy, and you might be right, but Miley Cyrus Fan@WeThinkMiley at least knew some statistics: “Obama is Muslim.. Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t. +40% of the worlds population are Muslims. Being a Muslim isn’t a bad thing. RT [re-tweet] if you agree.”
(Just a small editorial aside: we agree “being a Muslim isn’t a bad thing,” but can’t agree on the “Maybe he is, maybe he isn’t” bit. It’s a non-existent controversy; he just isn’t Muslim. Remember: before the 2008 election, and before the whole “Obama is a secret Muslim illegal immigrant” conspiracy theory was born, the chief religious scandal surrounding then-Senator Obama was, “He attends a Christian church with a controversial pastor.” In May 2008, Obama made headlines by resigning from that church, after having been a member for more than 20 years.)
@RepJackKimble, who incidentally never served in Congress with Obama and is not in fact a congressman at all, took the poll about as seriously as he takes his own political career: “52% of Mississippi Republicans believe that Obama is Muslim// what percent believe chewing tobacco is a vegetable?” (Thirty-five, according to the Department of Statistics We Just Made Up.)
Interest in the topic isn’t limited to the USA. Television presenter Ana Pastor let her followers in Spain know: “Obama is muslim es trending tópic mundial …. Cossasss” [Translation: Obama is Muslim is trending world topic … Thingsss]. Perhaps this is how the rest of the world’s Twitterers see America.
Photo by billaday