‘72% in UK would vote for Muslims’

By OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

London

Oct. 27: A significant number of British voters would be willing to vote for a Muslim leader, a survey for Theos, a British theology think tank, revealed on Monday. Only 23 per cent of 1,007 Britons, who took part in an opinion poll by ComRes, said that they would not be willing to vote for a Muslim leader.

The survey found that 72 per cent Britons would vote for a political leader who was a Muslim.

This figure is much higher Among 18-24 year olds, with 83 per cent saying they would vote for a Muslim political leader, but among those aged 65 and over, only 56 per cent would. Although the survey doesn’t show any severe anti-Muslim bias, the divide between Christians and Muslims in the UK was exacerbated after the July 2005 terrorist attacks in London.

However, the support for a Christian leader was overwhelming as just 7 per cent said they would not vote for one who was a Christian.

The survey also found Britons overwhelmingly support the election of Democratic candidate Barack Obama as the next President of the United States.

Mr Obama would win by a landslide if the outcome of the election were to be decided by people in Britain as 66 per cent of the respondents said they would vote for Mr Obama, and only 10 per cent for Republican John McCain. When asked whether they would vote for a political leader, like a President or Prime Minister, of a particular race, religion or age, 5 per cent British voters said they would not vote for a black leader on principle, 7 per cent would not vote for a woman and 43 per cent would not vote for a leader who was 72 years of age like Mr McCain is.

A minority of Britons, seven per cent, would not vote for a divorced person, but almost a quarter, or 23 per cent, would not vote for a gay or lesbian leader and 20 per cent would not vote for a political leader who was an atheist.

"The UK electorate is evidently very supportive of Barack Obama, reflecting his high popularity ratings across Europe. They see him as a candidate of change," Theos director Paul Woolley said. "The fact that one in five people wouldn’t vote for a well-qualified candidate because they were a Muslim or an atheist perhaps reveals a concern about values."