The survey underscores a religious divide when it comes to presidential approval. Obama approval high with Muslims

President Barack Obama’s approval rating is higher among Muslims than any other religious group, a new poll says.

According to a Gallup poll released Friday that tracked responses for the first six months of 2014, 72 percent of Muslims said they approve of the president, compared with just 20 percent who disapprove.


Mormons were the least approving religious group, with 18 percent of Mormons approving and 78 percent disapproving of the president. Mormons in the past have ranked as the most conservative major religious group in the U.S.

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The survey underscores a religious divide when it comes to presidential approval — Obama is more popular among non-Christians and less popular among Christians.

Those who classify as “Other non-Christian” gave the president a 59 percent approval rating, while Jewish Americans gave Obama a 55 percent approval rating and atheists or those who subscribe to no religion have a 54 percent approval rating.

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Catholics, on the other hand, have only a 44 percent approval rating of Obama, compared with 51 percent disapproval. Protestants and other Christians are more critical, with 37 percent approving and 58 percent disapproving.

Friday’s findings are in line with Gallup results on religious groups’ approval ratings of Obama since the beginning of his presidency — the relative rank of the groups have not changed in the six years Obama has been in office. The president’s approval rating in every group for the past six months has dropped 5-7 points from the average of his entire presidency.

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Gallup reported that Obama’s overall approval rating for the past six months is 43 percent.

The survey was conducted January-June 2014 with a random sample of 88,801 adults from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. The margin for error for the entire sample is plus-or-minus one point — though that number is higher for some of the individual religion samples.

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