President Obama blames a “network of misinformation” for the growing number of Americans who question his faith and citizenship:
“There is a mechanism, a network of misinformation that in a new media era can get churned out there constantly,” Mr. Obama said Sunday in an interview with NBC News. “I will always put my money on the American people. And I’m not going to be worrying too much about whatever rumors are floating on, out there.”
In a recent poll by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press, 34% of respondents said they believe Obama is a Christian, down from 48% in March 2009. Eighteen percent said he is a Muslim, up from 11% in March 2009.
Obama, who was born in Hawaii to an American mother and Kenyan father, has also faced persistent rumors that he was not born the U.S.—and therefore not eligible to be president.
“I can’t spend all my time with my birth certificate plastered on my forehead,” the president says.
