There has to be a "whistling Dixie" joke in all of this somewhere...

"will be sure to put in a question about this."

Clarification, from the link Eric provided:

"We're polling North Carolina next week, and I am almost definitely going to throw a question on there asking people whether they think Hawaii is a state or not."

Not quite the same as asking if Obama was born in the US.

And polls don't usually require logical consistency between answers to pairs of questions.

When polls are cited they need to specify what questions were asked, when were they asked, who did they ask, who asked them, etc. Otherwise they are worthless. Poll results can change dramatically by the way questions are asked. For example, you could ask "Do you believe the president of the US is a fraud and has no right to be president because he wasn't born here" might get a low yes result. But if you ask "Has anything led you to believe that the president might not have been born here" might get a high result. Without knowing the specifics we can't know how bad or prevalent this is. Bias can determine the results of these things. Karl Rove was the master of the fake poll questions which eventually led to the push polls.

That the birther bigots owuld be centered in the South is no suprise. It's about time Americans faced the truth about Southern whites. Southern whites have been a cross for this nation to bear from day one. They are an ignorant, violent, catered-to minority who have caused, through their temper tantrums when they haven't had their way, untold misery for everyone else.

The view to the horizon is clearer in VA because half the population, bent over so as to drag knuckles, provides a more unobstructed perspective.

I live in Virginia, so I am part of the half that KNOWS Obama was born in Hawaii to an American citizen, and is both a citizen by blood and by place.

But this issue really hi-lights the differences between the two major political coalitions different philosophies about epistemology. To the side I am part of, facts rule. We use the scientific method to obtain more facts, better facts, more trustworthy and verifiable facts. The facts are weapons to be used to demolish false paradigms, myths, and mystifications from those who lay claim to authority.

It is just the opposite with the other side. They seek out bona fide authorities. People they can trust, to tell them how it is. In order to be recognized, you have to have the symbol of authority--but if you show it, they will submit to your authority without question, and will accept anything that you tell them. No amount of facts will change their convictions. Facts have no authority with them. Only if one of their recognized authorities say it is so will it be so. Their convictions are before the fact. Our opinions are after the fact. This is the whole thing in a nutshell.

The fact that so many of the Right's so-called authorities have asserted that their are problems with the 'birth' issue is the source of all of this doubt in the face of overwhelming legal evidence to the contrary.And until Rush Limbaugh or Dick Cheney assert Obama was born in Hawaii to an American citizen, the birthers will continue in their folly.

Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe -- none of them was born in the United States.

Virginia Is For Retards.

probably using Rasmussan formulae......

I'm not a polling professional, but I wonder if there is a reasonable question that can further determine the sanity of the birthers, such as " do you believe Obama might be from another planet?", or "Do you believe Obama might be a planted Al Queda agent?"
There's probably a better question to ask. I'd love to see the correlation between those that answer yes on both the birther and the other undeniably whacko question too.

1. the birther doubts and beliefs are racist--a kind of racial profiling, I think. That is, using legal arguments that sound "rational" but are motivated on a feeling of suspicion based on racial stereotypes.
2. does not exclude, though, that these doubts are also about ignorance, as the "epistemology" commenter above indicated. 40% of folks polled in a Science Mag poll rejected Evolution as a theory. 44-47% of folks polled by Gallup in past 25 years believe humans were placed on earth as is less than 10,000 years ago.

As a white, southern LIBERAL, I am stunned at the lack of opprobrium towards the up-thread comment by "hollywood". Imagine what the response would have been if someone had made similar generalizations and libelous sterotypes towards women or an ethnic/racial minority? I have no more control over who my ancestors were or what they did or didn't do than you do. I am pretty certain that we barred placing the debts of the parents onto their children in this country , oooh, about 225 years ago.

Bugger of, "hollywood". You are a disgrace to the terms "liberal", "progressive" or "Democrat". At least the lack of tolerance on the part of conservatives can be understood. After all, they don't know any better. You, in theory, should know better. Obviously, the theory is wrong.

If they have nothing else to hold on to against Obama can you blame them? Never mind all the issues facing our nation, disrespecting US gov documents is just another way for their wishful thinking.

Wake them up in 2016!!!!!!!

I wonder if this will hurt us badly in 2012. Yes most of the country doesn't believe this but that doesn't mean they will be Obama voters. Moreover the heavy population centers in the blue states won't give him more electoral votes. Birthers will flip states like Florida, Indiana, Virginia, Ohio.

I'm always amazed at some people's ability to believe something no matter how much evidence to the contrary. There are people where I work that still believe that Saddam had WMD and that he had something to do with 911. It simply doesn't matter how many times you tell them it's not true because their gut tells them it is.

It's just like I've always said, Republicans are retarded. (sorry retarded people for my political incorrectness).