A whopping 58 percent of Republicans either think Barack Obama wasn't born in the US (28 percent) or aren't sure (30 percent). A mere 42 percent think he was.
That means a majority of Republicans polled either don't know about — or don't believe the seemingly incontrovertible evidence Obama's camp has presented over and over and over that he was born in Hawaii in '61.
Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 7/27-30. All adults. MoE 2% (No trend lines)
Do you believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States of America or not?
Yes 77
No 11
Not sure 12
So 11 percent of Americans are Obama-hating conspiracy theorists. How do they break down?
Yes No Not sure
Dem 93 4 3
Rep 42 28 30
Ind 83 8 9
Northeast 93 4 3
South 47 23 30
Midwest 90 6 4
West 87 7 6
It looks like there's a strong regional aspect to this (the chart denotes ALL respondents, regardless of political party):
Politico’s Glenn Thrush asks, “When do we start a serious dialog about the Birther movement being a proxy for racism that is unacceptable to articulate in more direct terms?”
By the way, I gave kudos to the conservative National Review a week or so ago for boldly stating that this whole birther nonsense was bullshit. I take it back.
UPDATE (MORE CHARTS): Brendan Nyhan compiles a useful chart of Obama-related misconceptions:
