A University of Texas survey finds that 23 percent of registered voters in the state still believe Barack Obama is a Muslim, though the Democratic nominee for president is Christian.

FOXNews.com

Thursday, 2008-30-304

A new poll finds that 23 percent of registered voters in Texas believe that Barack Obama is a Muslim, even though the Democratic candidate has repeatedly explained that he is a church-going Christian.

The poll, conducted by the Texas Politics Project and Department of Government at The University of Texas in Austin, showed Obama trailing John McCain by 11 points in the Lone Star State. 

Forty-five percent of those polled accurately described Obama as a Protestant. But the 23 percent who identified his religion as Islam is about twice as high as in typical national polls.

Throughout his presidential campaign, Obama has been fighting false rumors, largely hatched on the Internet, that he is secretly a Muslim.

On Obama’s Fight the Smears Web site, which his campaign set up to battle harmful claims, it says that Obama is a “committed Christian” who regularly attends church with his family.

The Texas poll interviewed 550 registered voters in  Texas from Oct. 15-22, and had a margin of error of 4.2 percent.