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June 20, 2012: Poll: Almost Two-Thirds of Republicans Believe Obama Born in Another Country

2012-06-20

According to a wide-ranging poll conducted by Dartmouth professor Benjamin Valentino, over 63 percent of self-identified Republicans believe that President Obama was born in another country and, by extension, is not a natural-born American citizen and thusly is in office illegally. Less than 10 percent of self-identified Democrats and just over 30 percent of self-identified independents hold similar views. The question was, “Which of the following statements best describes your views on whether Barack Obama was born in the United States or another country?” The available answers were:
bullet “I used to think President Obama was born in another country, but now I think he was born in the United States.”
bullet “I used to think President Obama was born in the United States, but now I think he was born in another country.”
bullet “I have always believed President Obama was born in the United States.”
bullet “I have always believed President Obama was born in another country.”
bullet “Don’t know.”
The 65-question poll was conducted by YouGov from April 26 through May 2, 2012, and surveyed 1056 respondents. It has a margin of error of plus/minus 3.18 percent. [Valentino, 6/20/2012 pdf file; Huffington Post, 6/21/2012]