Brendan Nyhan

James O. Freedman Presidential Professor of Government

Dartmouth College

ABC/WP birther poll: More of the same

For those who missed it, the ABC News/Washington Post poll (PDF) released last week included a question about the misperception that President Obama was not born in this country. They found that 20% of Americans think Obama was not born in this country, including 31% of Republicans:
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Abcwp-birther

What’s striking is that the results are almost identical to the CBS News/New York Times poll released last month, which found that 20% of Americans think Obama was born elsewhere, including 30% of Tea Party supporters:

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In short, this myth isn’t going away any time soon. For more, see my previous posts on the birther myth and my research with Jason Reifler on the persistence of political misperceptions.

[Cross-posted on Pollster.com]