Poll: 39% of Israelis believe Obama is Muslim

From Politico:

The New America Foundation’s poll of Israelis, released today, contains a finding suggesting campaign-trail rumors about Barack Obama’s religion penetrated deeply in the Jewish state.

The survey, by Jim Gerstein, asked Israelis (both Jewish and Muslim) whether a series of terms describe President Obama well, and 39% of respondents said the term “Muslim” describes the president, who is Christian, well. Of those, only 15% said the term described him very well.

A plurality, 49%, said Obama isn’t well-described as a Muslim.

But in a country engaged in decades of violent conflict with its Muslim and Arab neighbors, the fact that well over a third of Israelis buy into the groundless rumors about Obama’s faith suggests the depth of his image problems.

ALSO: About 11% of Americans think Obama is a Muslim, a number that has remained stable since the rumor spread widely in 2007.

Of course, this is a boneheaded thing to believe, but there is a sort of logic here, even if it is oversimplistic.

Obama, compared to previous American presidents, has tilted strongly against Israel and strongly toward the Palestinians.

Somebody, knowing full well that Jews support Israel, and that American Christians support Israel, might think that Obama comes from the group that most visibly dislikes Israel.

The flaw in the argument is that there is another group that doesn’t like Israel: secular liberals and leftists. That group includes Obama.