A Majority of Likely Republican Primary Voters are Birfers

[Toro]

At least that is the finding of Public Policy Polling.

Birthers make a majority among those voters who say they're likely to participate in a Republican primary next year. 51% say they don't think Barack Obama was born in the United States to just 28% who firmly believe that he was and 21% who are unsure. The GOP birther majority is a new development. The last time PPP tested this question nationally, in August of 2009, only 44% of Republicans said they thought Obama was born outside the country while 36% said that he definitely was born in the United States. If anything birtherism is on the rise.

Palin rates highly amongst the birfers

There is really a remarkable divide in how the birther and non-birther wings of the GOP view Sarah Palin. With the birthers she is a beloved figure, scoring an 83/12 favorability rating. Non-birthers are almost evenly divided on her with 47% rating her positively and 40% unfavorably.

However, most Republicans think Palin isn't qualified to be President.

This is yet another poll where we find Palin with the highest favorability among Republican primary voters but still lagging in the horse race. 65% have a positive opinion of her compared to 58% for Huckabee and 55% for Romney and Gingrich. Her problem is that even though they like her, few GOP voters think Palin's qualified to be President. Asked whether she's more qualified to be President or Vice President, only 29% of voters place her in the top spot compared to 46% who say she'd be a more appropriate number 2.

Public Policy Polling: Romney and the Birthers

However, the poll is relatively small, and PPP didn't release much on the composition of the sample, which in fairness, may skew the results.

PPP surveyed 400 Republican primary voters nationwide from February 11th to 13th. The survey’s margin of error is +/-4.9%. Other factors, such as refusal to be interviewed and weighting, may introduce additional error that is more difficult to quantify.

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_US_0215.pdf

 

[waltky]

Arizona take on birthers...

Arizona 'Birthers' See Tie to Birthright Citizenship
Wednesday, March 23, 2011 - Legislation that would require proof of U.S. birth from presidential candidates is intersecting in Arizona with the question of whether U.S.-born children of illegal immigrants are entitled to automatic citizenship.

The proposed legislation on documentation requirements for candidates asks for information on the citizenship of a candidate's parents. Tea party backers said Wednesday they believe people are only natural-born citizens if their parents are citizens. "The term 'natural-born' has nothing to do" with location of birth, said Jeff Lichter of the Greater Phoenix Tea Party. A Senate committee on Wednesday endorsed the bill after deleting the provision on citizenship of a candidate's parents, but it remains in a version approved Tuesday by a House panel.

President Barack Obama's name was hardly mentioned during either committee hearing, but Democratic Rep. Eric Meyer of Paradise Valley said it's apparent the issue "still stems in some way from the last election." Hawaii officials have certified that Obama was born in that state, but "birthers" have demanded proof, asserting that Obama could have been born in his father's home country, Kenya. Obama's mother was an American citizen. "Clearly this bill is not an attempt to deal with the current president other than to say that anyone running for president must meet the constitutional requirements," said Rep. Carl Seel, R-Anthem.

The candidate qualifications bill would authorize Arizona's secretary of state to keep a presidential candidate off the state's ballot if the candidate or party doesn't provide required information on the candidate's eligibility. Peter Spiro, a Temple University law professor, said there's an emerging thread in legislation on presidential candidates' qualifications "that somebody who is a dual citizen at birth is ineligible for the presidency." However, Spiro said, "there's no evidence that an individual has to be born to U.S. citizens to be eligible for the presidency."

The notion that a presidential candidate's parents must have been American citizens when the candidate was born troubled Sen. Frank Antenori, chairman of the Senate Government Reform Committee. The Tucson Republican said that would mean his American-born father, an Army veteran and the son of legal immigrants from Italy, couldn't run. Last week, the state Senate rejected illegal immigration bills that included measures intended to produce a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on who is entitled to U.S. citizenship at birth under the 14th Amendment. Supporters argue that the amendment doesn't apply to the children of illegal immigrants because such families don't owe sole allegiance to the U.S. "The law of the land is very clear. The question we've been facing ... is whether we want to reset the definition of natural-born citizen," said Democratic Sen. Kyrsten Sinema. "I would submit we did (decide) that last week."

MORE

 

[hortysir]

McCain or even Hillary, during the campaign, would have capitalized on it if Obama wasn't a citizen so......

I do agree that Palin is a quitter and has zero business in the White House

 

[bucs90]

He wasn't born in the US. Thats it. I"m a birther, starting now. Theres just too much info that can't be explained, too many chances that he could silence this, but hasn't.

 

[waltky]

Has Miss Sarah jumped on the Donald's bandwagon?...

Did Sarah Palin just join Donald Trump as a ‘birther’?
April 10, 2011 - Sarah Palin says she believes President Obama was born in the US. But she's cheering on Donald Trump for 'getting to the bottom' of allegations by 'birthers' that Obama is hiding something.

Forget primary elections and party caucuses. In many ways, the long, strange trip to picking major party presidential candidates is one of self-selection. How so? Like how they focus attention on themselves in ways that appear – how to put this delicately – obsessively weird. Which brings us, quite logically, to Donald Trump and Sarah Palin. The billionaire developer and reality show star has been going on and on about President Obama’s place of birth, claiming now that he’s sent investigators to Hawaii to find out the truth. And now he’s gotten into a snit with a New York Times columnist over the subject.

Hello? Did Trump not think that his hometown newspaper might find what seems at the moment to be his main campaign issue…obsessively weird? In her typically funny op-ed column, Gail Collins at the New York Times had had it with Trump. “In a potential Republican field that includes Michele Bachmann, Sarah Palin and Newt Gingrich, it’s hard to come up with a line of attack loopy enough to stand out from the pack. But darned if Trump didn’t manage to find one,” she wrote the other day.

Then she hammered Trump on the two things he’s best known for. “Trump’s main argument for why he should be taken seriously as a presidential contender is his business success. Has Obama ever hosted a long-running reality series? Owned a bankruptcy-bound chain of casinos? Put his name on a flock of really unattractive high-rise apartment buildings? No! … ‘Celebrity Apprentice’ is widely regarded as terrible and cheesy programming, but, actually, it has its moments. I recently saw an episode in which a former top model had a serious discussion with a fellow competitor about whether this was the 20th century or the 21st. You can’t get stuff like that on ‘Mad Men.’”

In a letter to the Times, Trump fired back. Repeating the litany of birther assertions – that Obama’s Kenyan grandmother “stated on tape that she was there to watch the birth” when the full tape shows her emphatically denying that – Trump goes after Collins personally. “Actually, I have great respect for Ms. Collins in that she has survived so long with so little talent,” he wrote. “Her storytelling ability and word usage (coming from me, who has written many bestsellers), is not at a very high level.”

MORE

See also:

Ex-Hawaii official denounces 'ludicrous' birther claims
4/10/2011 - Comments follow statements by Donald Trump questioning legitimacy of president's birth record

The Hawaiian state health official who personally reviewed Barack Obama's original birth certificate has affirmed again that the document is "real" and denounced "conspiracy theorists" in the so-called "birther" movement for continuing to spread bogus claims about the issue. "It’s kind of ludicrous at this point," Dr. Chiyome Fukino, the former director of Hawaii's Department of Health, said in a rare telephone interview with NBC.

Fukino, sounding both exasperated and amused, spoke to a reporter in the aftermath of Donald Trump's statements on the NBC Today show last week questioning whether Obama has a legitimate birth certificate. Trump, who says he is considering a run for president, repeated his claims on CNN's "State of the Union" Sunday, saying that "nobody has any information" about the president's birth and that "if he wasn't born in this country, he shouldn't be president of the United States."

No matter what state officials release on the issue, the "birthers" are going to question it, said Fukino. "They’re going to question the ink on which it was written or say it was fabricated," said Fukino. "The whole thing is silly." As the top Hawaiian official in charge of state health records in 2008, when the issue of Obama's birth first arose, Fukino said she thought she had put the matter to rest. Contacted by NBC, Fukino expanded on previous public statements and made two key points when asked about Trump's recent comments.

The first is that the original so-called "long form" birth certificate — described by Hawaiian officials as a "record of live birth" — absolutely exists, located in a bound volume in a file cabinet on the first floor of the state Department of Health. Fukimo said she has personally inspected it — twice. The first time was in late October 2008, during the closing days of the presidential campaign, when the communications director for the state's then Republican governor, Linda Lingle (who appointed Fukino) asked if she could make a public statement in response to claims then circulating on the Internet that Obama was actually born in Kenya.

More Ex-Hawaii official denounces 'ludicrous' birther claims - Politics - More politics - msnbc.com

 

[VaYank5150]

He wasn't born in the US. Thats it. I"m a birther, starting now. Theres just too much info that can't be explained, too many chances that he could silence this, but hasn't.

Were you abducted by aliens with Kucinich? There is just too much info that can't be explained, too many chance that you could silence this, but havene't?

 

[grunt11b]

Is there not a constitutional mandate on congress to vest a presidential candidate by validating his citizenship? Yes there is. But the Democratic congress of 2008 failed to do this, which is why you have the birthers.
The reason they did not vest Obama is apparent, they wanted to create yet another distraction to keep your minds busy while they do what it is they do best, wreck the economy.
It's all smoke and mirrors with them, you should see this by now.

 

[Truthmatters]

I cant wait until the Donnald ripps the rug our from underneath these fools.

 

[grunt11b]

I cant wait until the Donnald ripps the rug our from underneath these fools.

What I like about trump is he has enough money to shut them down, his own money. He does not rely on special interest groups, nor would he be controlled by them like Obama is right now, I.E. "George Soros". Trump is a huge threat to to the left, so they will start trying to discredit him very soon with lies and accusations.

 

[Stephanie]

Isn't that such a cute little NAME they like to bestow on people...Birthers.

So now QUESTIONING the BOYKINGS birth certificate puts people in the same category as Truthers?

How friggen cute, eh.

 

[VaYank5150]

I cant wait until the Donnald ripps the rug our from underneath these fools.

What I like about trump is he has enough money to shut them down, his own money. He does not rely on special interest groups, nor would he be controlled by them like Obama is right now, I.E. "George Soros". Trump is a huge threat to to the left, so they will start trying to discredit him very soon with lies and accusations.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Nobody has to TRY to discredit Trump. Have you even seen his stupid reality show? He has filed for bankruptcy how many times now? Like Caribou Barbie, the Donald discredits himself.

 

[WillowTree]

asswipe was willing to punish our troops for cheap ass political points, never ever forget that. ever.

 

[Truthmatters]

I cant wait until the Donnald ripps the rug our from underneath these fools.

What I like about trump is he has enough money to shut them down, his own money. He does not rely on special interest groups, nor would he be controlled by them like Obama is right now, I.E. "George Soros". Trump is a huge threat to to the left, so they will start trying to discredit him very soon with lies and accusations.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH


You dont get it do you?


Trump is playing the tea party.


He is doing this for publicity.

He is going to yank the rug right out from underneath the birthers at just the right moment.

 

[Stephanie]

I cant wait until the Donnald ripps the rug our from underneath these fools.

What I like about trump is he has enough money to shut them down, his own money. He does not rely on special interest groups, nor would he be controlled by them like Obama is right now, I.E. "George Soros". Trump is a huge threat to to the left, so they will start trying to discredit him very soon with lies and accusations.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH


You dont get it do you?


Trump is playing the tea party.


He is doing this for publicity.

He is going to yank the rug right out from underneath the birthers at just the right moment.

ooooooooooooooo, he is going to YANK THE RUG..
Trump is only asking a question a lot of people are, it has NOTHING TO do with the Tea Party. but hey, if it blows your skirt up to think so..

 

[Claudette]

I find it rather odd that Barry Boy hasn't produced his BC by now.

I would think he would get a kick out of shoving it in the faces of the birther crowd.

Food for thought.

 

[The Rabbi]

It is symptomatic of how little we know about Obama.
WHo paid for his schooling? Don't know.
What grades did he get? Don't know.
Who did he hang around with? Don't know.
How did he afford a $2M house in Chicago? Don't know
Where did he get his money from? Don't know.

Obama is the least known president ever. In that environment it is no wonder that rumor and speculation run rife. He has shown no interest in clarifying, only obfuscating.

 

[ba1614]

I cant wait until the Donnald ripps the rug our from underneath these fools.

What I like about trump is he has enough money to shut them down, his own money. He does not rely on special interest groups, nor would he be controlled by them like Obama is right now, I.E. "George Soros". Trump is a huge threat to to the left, so they will start trying to discredit him very soon with lies and accusations.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH


You dont get it do you?


Trump is playing the tea party.


He is doing this for publicity.

He is going to yank the rug right out from underneath the birthers at just the right moment.

I'm thinking the fool to be laughed at is in your mirror. IMO the Trump is just bringing shit up because he isn't going to be a candidate and doesn't have to worry about the hatchet job the main stream media does to anyone who asks anything about the obama.

 

[Seawytch]

I just love threads like this. It exposes the birther crazies!

Have you seen Trumps latest claims? (which gives even more credence to the theory that he is doing this for ratings and cannot possibly be serious)

He is now claiming that Obama's grandparents planted the birth announcement.

 

[bodecea]

He wasn't born in the US. Thats it. I"m a birther, starting now. Theres just too much info that can't be explained, too many chances that he could silence this, but hasn't.

Hawaii is in the U.S. But I don't believe you are a birther starting now...I believe you were a birther quite a while ago...it's a convenient excuse.

 

[Old Rocks]

I cant wait until the Donnald ripps the rug our from underneath these fools.

What I like about trump is he has enough money to shut them down, his own money. He does not rely on special interest groups, nor would he be controlled by them like Obama is right now, I.E. "George Soros". Trump is a huge threat to to the left, so they will start trying to discredit him very soon with lies and accusations.

No, he just relies on going bankrupt and leaving others with the bills and the mess.