Poll: 43% Of Republicans Think President Obama Was Born In Another Country

Another poll, this time from Gallup and USA Today, shows that a substantial plurality of Republicans don’t believe the President’s American birth:

Only only 38% of Americans say Obama definitely was born in the USA, and 18% say he probably was. Fifteen percent say he probably was born in another country, and 9% say he definitely was born elsewhere.

Republicans are inclined to say the president was born abroad by 43%-35%.

As I’ve said, the inmates have taken over the asylum.

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Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. So, they think he was born in Texas? As I recall, it’s like a whole ‘nother country.

  2. Falze says:

    Essentially the same numbers that Trump gets. In other words, a useless poll that lets you act superior while people laugh at you behind your back for trumpeting it. I mean, uh, good job, way to stay on top of this important issue! Where would we be without your vital analysis of the Republican party! Bush planned 9/11!

  3. Jay Caruso says:

    Ok, here is a question:

    Who cares?

    The fact that x amount of people think Obama was born outside the country means what exactly? Measure it against what is of importance to GOP voters and this is going to rank near dead last on the list.

    Latest Gallup poll amongst GOP voters showed the top issues they were concerned about where

    Government spending/power
    Business and the economy
    Social issues
    National Security and foreign affairs

    This birther nonsense is a nice distraction from the media to make people think conservative voters are more frigging concerned about where Obama was born than they are with the shitty job he’s doing of running the country. It’s not even close.

  4. DC Loser says:

    This birther nonsense is a nice distraction from the media to make people think conservative voters are more frigging concerned about where Obama was born than they are with the shitty job he’s doing of running the country.

    I wasn’t aware tha the Arizona and Louisiana state legislatures, as well as Gov Bobby Jindall were members of the MSM.

  5. DC,

    There are also birther bills pending in Oklahoma and several other states

  6. Michael says:

    Jay,
    It’s important because those issues aren’t really important to GOP voters. On all of them Obama’s actual policies are barely distinguishable from Bush’s. So the GOP liked Bush based on those issues, but dislikes Obama on the same issues, even though he’s doing exactly what Bush did.

    How can this be? Because the issues don’t matter, there is a deeper emotional dislike for Obama, and because they know that their dislike is based on something irrational, possibly hateful or otherwise socially taboo, they put up these issues as an acceptable facade.

    It’s hardly unique to them, I’ll admit, as Bush wasn’t all that different from Clinton on many of the “issues” that people used to justify their affection for one and disdain for the other.

  7. anjin-san says:

    Bush planned 9/11!

    Perhaps you could name a single credible Democrat who put this forth…

  8. jwest says:

    There’s no reason for Obama to release his original birth certificate.

    He has a solid 38% of Americans who still believe he probably was born here.

  9. john personna says:

    Jay Caruso asks “Who Cares?”

    It’s obviously fun when some political group self-identifies as the Crazy Party.

    If Michael Moore ever polled like Donald Trump, it would be the same thing.

  10. mantis says:

    Ok, here is a question:

    Who cares?

    A lot of Republican politicians, that’s who. Any more stupid questions?

    Latest Gallup poll amongst GOP voters showed the top issues they were concerned about where

    Government spending/power
    Business and the economy
    Social issues
    National Security and foreign affairs

    Those are the only four issues Gallup polled. Gallup is trying to figure out which of those is most important to Republicans, and which of those issues is tied to support for particular candidates. You are implying that Republicans picked those four as the most important from a long list. They did not. They only picked from those four. Here’s a link to the poll you neglected to include.

    This birther nonsense is a nice distraction from the media to make people think conservative voters are more frigging concerned about where Obama was born than they are with the shitty job he’s doing of running the country. It’s not even close.

    That evil liberal media sure does have a lot of power, doesn’t it? They’ve managed to get Republicans babbling constantly about birth certificates on right wing talk radio, on the Internet, and at rallies. They must have some mind control device or something.

  11. jd says:

    …But 50% of any population are below average IQ, so it’s really a positive thing that at least 14% of below-average-IQ Republicans understand that President Obama was born in the USA.

  12. PD Shaw says:

    “Republicans are inclined to say the president was born abroad by 43%-35%.”

    By my rough calculations, between 16 and 19 percent of non-Republicans are inclined to say the president was born abroad. What’s up with that?

  13. mantis says:

    By my rough calculations, between 16 and 19 percent of non-Republicans are inclined to say the president was born abroad. What’s up with that?

    My guess is a combination of southern Democrats who haven’t gotten on board with this whole 21st century thing, and those for whom the Republican Party is not racist/crazy enough.

  14. PD Shaw says:

    I wasn’t sure whether white southern Democrats existed anymore; more likely it’s independents. I would guess the view held by 43% of Republicans is held by 21% of Independents and 10% of Democrats.

    If this were an idealogical or policy issue, I wouldn’t be surprised that a certain percentage might buck their party’s stance. There are pro-life Democrats and pro-choice Republicans. But this is what I would call a partisan issue, so I would expect the cross-over effect to be much smaller.