Obama's problems in the Deep South aren't limited to suspicion over his religion. And the suspicion over his identity isn't limited to the South.
As Huffington Post Politics reported, a new poll shows that more than half of the likely GOP primary voters in the Deep South do not believe that President Obama is a Christian. The survey by Public Policy Polling founds that only 14 percent of those in Alabama who are likely to vote in the GOP primaries tomorrow think the president is a Christian, while 45 percent think he is a Muslim. Another 41 percent said that they were not sure.
Only 12 percent of those in Mississippi think President Obama is a Christian, while 52 percent said he was a Muslim and another 36 percent said they were not sure.
Those suspicions might explain the inclusion of an image in a new Newt Gingrich ad which is airing in those states — which are holding primaries tomorrow — showing President Obama bowing to King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.
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But those numbers reflect a suspicion about Obama's identity that pervades the Republican Party. A January poll from YouGov showed that more than a third of Republicans don't believe the president was born in the United States, while another third reported that they were "unsure."
Obama has little chance of winning the states in the South, but even for a region where white voters are opposed to Obama, the distaste for him in Mississippi and Alabama is especially pronounced. In 2008, Obama netted 23 percent, 26 percent and 30 percent of the white vote In Georgia, South Carolina, and Arkansas, respectively. But the president only won 11 percent of whites in Mississippi, and only 10 percent of whites voted for Obama in Alabama.