OBAMACRASH, BY FAITH GROUP – AT 8:12 A.M. ET:  American Muslims heart Obama.  A new survey shows Obama still popular among Muslims, but fading among other faith groups.  From Andrew Malcolm at the L.A. Times's Top of the Ticket blog:

As a group, Americans of the Muslim faith give Barack Obama the highest job approval rating of any major religion.

A new Gallup Poll of 275,000 adults this morning finds that while the Democrat's overall approval ratings have dropped across all faiths -- even those Americans without any -- Muslims continue to approve of him the most. And you'll never guess which faith based in Utah thinks the least of the 44th president's job.

Seventy-eight percent of Muslims (down from 86% after Obama's inauguration) now approve of the president's 19-month job performance, while less than one-in-four Mormons (24%) do (down from 43%).

Catholics' job approval has fallen from 67% to 50%. Protestants' from 58% to 43%. Jews' from....

...77% to 61%. Other non-Christian religions' from 74% to 64%. And atheist/agnostic from 75% to 63%, believe it or not.

Overall, Gallup finds Americans' approval of Obama's job has dropped in the same time-span from 63% to 48%.

While consistently declining across faiths, Obama, who describes his own faith as Christian, has lost more among Mormons and least among Muslims, a group his administration has made special outreach efforts toward.

COMMENT:  The most startling drop is among Jews, a critical component of the Democratic coalition.  One of the indicators that Ronald Reagan would be elected in 1980 was Jimmah Carter's sharp drop in popularity among Jews.  Jews are only two percent of the population, but about 90% go to the polls, and that vote is concentrated in large, critical states. 

Protestants are, of course, the nation's largest faith group, and Obama's approval rating of 43% among the group does not bode well for Dems this November.  Midterms are often a referendum on a presidency.

August 27, 2010