Throughout the year, I have been tracking beliefs about President Obama’s citizenship (see here and here). From September 15-17, 2012, YouGov again surveyed 1000 Americans and asked whether “Barack Obama was born in the United States of America.” In the table below, I present these results, alongside the polls that I presented in my earlier posts.
| "Barack Obama was born in the United States": Full Sample | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
April 2011 | January 2012 | July 2012 | Sept 2012 | ||
Before release of birth certificate | After release of birth certificate | ||||
| |||||
True | 55% | 67% | 59% | 55% | 59% |
False | 15% | 13% | 17% | 20% | 21% |
Not sure | 30% | 20% | 24% | 25% | 19% |
These polls demonstrate the hint of some movement toward the belief that Obama was born in the United States. However the percentage of people who think that Obama was not born in the United States has held steady throughout the year, and perhaps even increased slightly.
As I noted in earlier posts, the incidence of Birtherism is especially pronounced among Republicans. A plurality of Republicans believes that Obama was not born in the United States. Indeed the level of Birtherism among Republicans is the highest it has been this year.
| "Barack Obama was born in the United States": Republicans Only | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
April 2011 | January 2012 | July 2012 | Sept 2012 | ||
Before release of birth certificate | After release of birth certificate | ||||
| |||||
True | 30% | 47% | 27% | 31% | 27% |
False | 25% | 23% | 37% | 33% | 39% |
Not sure | 45% | 29% | 35% | 36% | 34% |
