More than half of Republican supporters believe President Obama is a Muslim, a poll of the GOP electorate has found.
A survey by Public Policy Polling (PPP) examined Donald Trump's sway with GOP voters and highlighted his continuing lead over his rivals in the run up to the Republican Presidential nominations.
It found those polled wrongly believed President Obama was a Muslim, when he actually identifies as a Christian.
Mr Obama, who was born in Hawaii, has openly described his “deep faith” in the past, saying in 2007 his belief was rooted in Christianity, although his father was a Muslim.
Public Policy Polling (PPP) said Trump was benefiting from a Republican electorate who believe President Obama is a Muslim who was not born in the US, with 66 per cent of Trump’s supporters believing he is Muslim, and only 12 per cent saying he is a Christian.
“Trump's beliefs represent the consensus among the GOP electorate,” the US based polling firm said in a summary of results. “Fifty one per cent overall want to eliminate birthright citizenship. Fifty four per cent think President Obama is a Muslim. And only 29 per cent grant that President Obama was born in the United States. That's less than the 40 per cent who think Canadian born Ted Cruz was born in the United States.”
However, as the Washington Post points out, the small sample size could suggest the PPP's results are overstated, while the three limited options for answering what respondents believe his religion is - Christian, Muslim, or 'not sure', may have influenced the outcome.
It also concluded Trump is winning in the opinion polls over Megan Kelly, after sparring with her in the GOP debate and subsequently criticising her and the Fox News network on Twitter.
