STUDY: 64 Percent of Republicans are Birthers
Amazingly, a whopping 64% of Republicans still believe President Obama his hiding details of his background and early life.
A poll conducted byFairleigh Dickinson University’s PublicMind project found that the “Birther” conspiracy is in fact the most widely believed conspiracy theory in America today.
As part of the study, researchers asked people about three other conspiracies as well, regarding 9/11, the 2004 and 2012 elections.
But Birtherism is by far the most popular.
Not surprisingly, Republicans are more likely to believe that Obama stole the 2012 election, while Democrats are more likely to think the same about 2004. Thirty-seven percent of Democrats think Bush or his supporters engaged in significant voter fraud to win that year, compared to just 9 percent of Republicans and 17 percent of independents.
9/11 conspiracy theories were also more popular among Democrats, with 36 percent believing thatBush knew the towers would be attacked, while young African-Americans are particularly likely to believe this myth — fully 59 percent believe it.
But the most popular conspiracy theory of all was birtherism. “This conspiracy theory is much more widely believed mostly because it’s been discussed so often,” explained Cassino. “People tend to believe that where there’s smoke, there’s fire – so the more smoke they see, the more likely they are to believe that something is going on.”
Are you surprised that there are so many birthers out there?
What explains the enduring popularity of birtherism?
Sound off below!
