We decided to break down the birthers by their opinions of Barack Obama and the various leading 2012 contenders. Here's what we found:
-Not surprisingly only 16% of them approve of Obama's job performance while 75% disapprove. I think Mike Littwin might have hit on a pretty good point in the Denver Post today, which is that some of the people who purport to be birthers might not really believe it but that it's shorthand for their general unhappiness with the President.
-The birthers love them some Sarah Palin. She's the most popular politician in the mix with them at 66% favorability. Next is Mike Huckabee at 58%, followed by Newt Gingrich at 46%, and Mitt Romney at 43%.
I mean this with all sincerity- Romney's lack of popularity with the birther wing of the GOP really could scuttle his chances at the nomination in three years.
Looking at the numbers from another angle- 63% of all Americans with a favorable opinion of Sarah Palin are birthers. Same thing with 53% of those who like Gingrich, 50% who view Huckabee positively, and 44% for Romney.
Remember when W. said 'some people call you the elites, I call you my base?' Swap out birthers for elites and you've got the makings of a great Palin speech.
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Ah, of course. I knew you'd get Palin into this birther non-story somehow. I was already starting to wonder why you were spending so much time (and, presumably, money) building up the birther-meme, but now I know. It's the old guilt by association ploy. Nice work dude!
ReplyDeleteSeriously, Tom? You really have nothing better to do than to write a post like this? Are you obsessed with finding ways to slam Palin, or is it just a hobby of yours? Posts like this, sadly, probably cause you to lose a bit of credibility amongst your relatively small readership.
ReplyDeleteWhat about those "unsure" about Obama's place of birth?
ReplyDeleteJust out of curiosity, how many polls have you conducted on the "Bush behind 9/11 theory"? How about the "who do the anthropogenically induced global warming/climate change believers love?" theory? Maybe you polled on the number of people who believe Al Gore and/or Barbara Boxer hold a science degree. Hmmm, I don't remember seeing any of those polls.
ReplyDelete^ Omg first 2 comments: BIRTHER ALERT
ReplyDeleteEveryone point and laugh
Hmmm... I thought the 'birthers' were the ones who thought Palin didn't give birth to her son Trig...like Andy Sullivan.
ReplyDeleteCould you break down the non-birthers in the GOP as well? It'll be interesting to see who they support, and how similar their politics are to the birthers in the party. If they support Romney by enough he could overcome a division in the birther ranks.
ReplyDeleteCare to site anything that shows Governor Palin is a so-called 'birther'?
ReplyDeleteAnything?
Good grief.
Get a life.
cjh
disgusting article. can you name one time that palin or any other republican leader has said anything that might be construed as being supportive of the birther issue- that is what I thought none.
ReplyDeleteof people who think bush took us into iraq so he could get rich what percengage do you suppose supported obama in the last election
Did you do a similar story on what percentage of the "Trig truthers" voted for Obama (i'm thinking, oh, 100%)...what a pathetic hack you are.
ReplyDeleteI imagine 100% of the "Trig truthers" (see Andrew Sullivan) voted for Obama...guess you missed that story genius.
ReplyDeleteThe only ones who keep bringing up Birther is the Left. Nice try there by linking Sarah Palin.
ReplyDeleteI think your credibility has just crashed. Until now I had regarded your organisation as respectable and responsible but to use this project to slam (by association)a leading political figure smacks of an infantile bias more often associated with the farther shores of politics. You, sir, should be ashamed of yourself...
ReplyDeletePut away your Alinsky manual and come out into the light. Name calling and the politics of personal destruction has sickened the American people.
ReplyDeleteIf you have serious positions to take on policies then voice them. We welcome the debate. But pretending to do political polling while trying to destroy Sarah Palin's reputation by associating her with a position she does not hold (and by the way she has NEVER raised the issue of Obama's native-born citizen status) makes us suspect you are afraid to face us directly on the issues.
Stick to substance Tom and you earn my respect even when I disagree with you. Even though it obviously doesn't work the other way around.
This is where Alinsky tells me I should call you a name, so I'll bow to the superiority of your technique and do my best....
"Chicken"
To all the cynics out there, ask yourselves this simple question:
ReplyDeleteIf there's nothing to the "birther" issue, than why is it that Obama has spent nearly $1 million on attorneys fees to keep his alleged birth certificate under lock and key?
Oh, I forgot, it's politically incorrect to ask such questions. My sincerest apologies.
Let me be the one to congratulate you. Unfortunately, you came up quickly on some Palin blogs and have gotten hammered in the comments, but you asked a very insightful question here, and got a perfectly legitimate (though predictable) result.
ReplyDeleteThe negative comments are also predictable: false equivalencies, crazy assertions, accusations of negativity, etc. Not only have you correctly identified a major Republican demographic, you've managed to expose it in this space.
One thought: what would happen if you included Ron Paul in the mix?
ReplyDeleteOmg there is a post on a polling blog about correlations found in a poll. I am shocked and offended.
ReplyDeleteI read your recent poll where you tried to link Gov Palin with so called" birthers". Interesting result...I did a similar poll...100% of all black supremacists supported Obama over McCain....so what did that tell you? about the same as your Palin poll...Surely you dont believe that Obama is a black racist although those groups supported him overwhelmingly
ReplyDeletePalin has said nothing about Obama's lack of transparency regarding his original birth certificate or any of his other documents and records, so find some other tree to wee wee up.
ReplyDeleteWow, the Palinites are in force here. Most birthers don't seem to do much thinking, and it seems like these commenters don't do much reading. A correlation is just that. No mention in original article of what Palin thinks of birthers at all. Just what birthers think of Palin. Thank God she seems to be fading away, if only the same were true of the Birthers....
ReplyDeleteHaha! Palin is an idiot, and so are her defenders. Great POLL! It will take them time to differentiate between a post and a poll, but they are the uneducated class, so we'll give them time to catch up. Though it seems like the dumb continue to get dumber. Poll the guys who commented in this post and I'm sure you'll find that they are all sexually attracted to Palin - nothing more, nothing less. She's uneducated and so are they.
ReplyDelete... Laughing and pointing for sure.
The palinites who have crashed this board can't seem to understand the difference between "most birthers support palin" and "most palinites are birthers." THat's not surprising.
ReplyDeleteIf you don't see why this is an issue, it's because you don't realize that these nuts will lose the general election for any candidate who doesn't denounce them.
Birthers = Stupid reactionaries. Stupid reactionaries = Palinites. It is a simple equation that is supported by many of the comments here.
ReplyDelete[anonymous: The palinites who have crashed this board can't seem to understand the difference between "most birthers support palin" and "most palinites are birthers." THat's not surprising.]
ReplyDeleteThe Dems (who I guess in your opinion somehow "belong" here unlike we 'crashers') can't tell the difference between a 66% correlation of two opinions and "accurate" evidence of a "major Republican demographic."
Draw a line between Palin supporters and people who doubt Obama's natural born status and assert there's nothing standing on it but stumptoothed rednecks, because we all know that anyone holding either opinion is an idiot. Funny how much that 'science' resembles simple bigotry.
Tom, thank you for posting this. The Palintologist movement is one of the most dangerous in the country. They scream about Obama's lack of qualifications, while ignoring their beauty queens' who went to six colleges to get a journalism degree. I'm a libertarian who has been banned from various conservative sites for stating the obvious. I've compiled an extensive case against her here...
ReplyDeleteThe Case Against Sarah Palin (2012)
Here's a good poll question: How many "birthers" also double as "real Americans"...At the heart of this debate is hatred and fear. I would bet that 100% of the "birthers" just can't BE-LIEVE that a black man, named Barack Obama is actually the U.S President. Something's got to be wrong here. Ask the birthers at these teaparties and townhalls and you hear the same mantra: "I'm really afraid!"..."I feel like I'm losing my country!"...Go to a Palin rally and we hear: "I'm mad! I'm reeeally mad!" and "he's an Arab"...Memo to haters: You lost. Get over it. Obama's the President. He did not win because of a birth certificate plot..Obama won because more Americans voted for him.. than they have voted for any other person... running for any elective office...in the HISTORY of the United States of America...Don't like it? Stop trying to assasinate his character and stop with the sick threats. Just win at the ballot box in 2012. THAT'S how "real Americans" do it!
ReplyDelete