\n
\n-“93 percent of Democrats say he was born in the country and 83 percent of Independents, the figure is only 42 percent for Republicans. A majority of Republicans either believe he was born abroad (28 percent) or don’t know (30 percent)<\/p>\n
-“a majority of Southerners either believe that Barack Obama was not born in the United States (23 percent) or are not sure (30 percent). Only 47 percent of Southern respondents believe Obama was born in the USA. By contrast, 93 percent of Northeasterns said yes, he was born here, 90 percent of Midwesterners did and 87 percent of Westerners.”<\/em><\/p>\n
In the Public Policy Polling:<\/p>\n – “62% of Americans think Obama was born here, while 24% think he was not and 14% are unsure<\/p>\n – “10% of the country thinks that he was born in Indonesia, 7% think he was born in Kenya, and 1% think he was born in the Philippines.<\/p>\n – “That leaves 20%, which includes at least some people who correctly believe that Obama was born in Hawaii, but who don’t consider Hawaii to be part of the United States. You read that right- 6% of poll respondents think that Hawaii is not part of the country and 4% are unsure.<\/p>\n – “It’s hard to say what the rest of that 20% thinks. We did ask them if they thought Obama was born in France and while less than half a percent of respondents did, two thirds of that remaining 20% said they ‘weren’t sure’ whether Obama was a Frenchman.<\/p>\n “So who are the birthers?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n -62% are Republicans, 20% are Democrats, and 18% are independents Now for my comments:<\/p>\n Americans are known for their almost abysmal lack of knowledge when it comes to anything to do the rest of the world. Some of the findings in the polls demonstrates this in spades and the fact that 6% of Americans don’t even know that Hawaii is part of the US illustrates what has been referred to as the “dumbing down” of America.<\/p>\n Shown below is an image, provided by Sareena, which pokes fun at the average American’s lack of knowledge of world geography:<\/p>\n I lived in the South during the 80s’ and I know for a fact that although Jim Crow may have ended with the civil rights movement, the attitude of whites who grew up in the South, before the civil rights era, was still unchanged with regard to, for how they viewed blacks. For the most part, blatant racism was a thing of the past but attitudes to blacks were in many cases unchanged. So the predominance of “birthers” being from the South would suggest that race may be a factor. <\/p>\n The other side of the coin, however, is that Obama would never have been elected president unless a significant number of whites voted for him. So although the opposition to him may be, in part, because of his policies and outright misinformation and disinformation about those policies being spewed by the right-wing, at least in areas outside the South I have to believe that his race is probably not a factor. <\/p>\n John Stewart, a brilliant satirist\/comedian did a terrific segment on the “birther” movement in his “Daily Show” program. Check it out here because it perfectly illustrates the sheer nonsense associated with the accusations by the “birthers”:<\/p>\n
\n-57% are conservatives, 33% are moderates, and 9% are liberals
\n-56% are men, 44% are women
\n-86% are white, 7% are Hispanic, 4% are black, and 3% are other races”<\/em><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/josephclan.com\/tjblog\/images\/theworldaccordingtoamericans.jpg\")
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\n The Daily Show With Jon Stewart<\/a><\/td>\n Mon – Thurs 11p \/ 10c<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n The Born Identity<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n \n