I can't believe people really believe this

I keep seeing more and more articles of crowds acting like this. Who actually believes this crap? I received a blast email earlier in the election cycle with the whole "Obama is a Muslim and refuses to say the Pledge of Allegiance" nonsense, and I've had someone tell me they wouldn't vote for Obama because they think he'd be assassinated. I never really thought race would be an issue, or that there was going to be such fear-mongering and hate. With only 3 weeks to go, I hope this doesn't get uglier.