Limbaugh and Birthers

On our Georgia, Ohio, and Tennessee Republican polls in addition to looking at the Presidential race we also polled on some of the issues that have been in the news over the last week: Rush Limbaugh and the reemergence of birtherism.

Our numbers suggest that Rush Limbaugh has seen significant erosion in his popularity with Republican voters over the last week. The last time we polled on him nationally he was at 80/12 with GOPers. But now we find him below 50% in all three of these states: he's at 45/28 in Ohio, 46/29 in Tennessee, and 44/30 in Georgia.

Republican women in particular have become very skeptical about Limbaugh in the states holding tomorrow's 2 most competitive contests. He's at only 39/28 with them in Ohio and 36/30 in Tennessee

Feelings about Limbaugh produce a pretty big divide in who GOP voters are planning to cast their ballots for tomorrow. Among Ohio Republicans who like Limbaugh Rick Santorum leads Mitt Romney 39-35.  With ones who dislike him Romney has the 39-30 advantage.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio's press conference last week put the birther issue back in the news and our polling in these states finds that the birther contingent is still pretty strong within the Republican Party:

-In Tennessee only 33% of GOP primary voters think Barack Obama was born in the United States, while 45% do not.

-In Georgia 40% of Republican primary voters think Obama was born in the United States, while 38% do not.

-In Ohio 42% of Republican primary voters think Obama was born in the United States, while 37% do not.

If Romney ends up coming short on his late charge in Tennessee it may be due to his inability to compete with this fringe group. Among non-Birthers he trails Santorum only 34-33. But with the birther contingent he's in a distant third at 24% to Santorum's 35% and Gingrich's 32%.

Full results here

Comments

[Gosto Tothiwim]

Shows to go you - religion causes brain damage.

[Ed in NJ]

The stupid is strong with these voters. I look forward to the November landslide and all the exploding heads around the South, who've been fed a pack of lies for 3 1/2 years and never go outside their Fox News/Rush Limbaugh cocoon.

[Jay]

It's kind of sad that you felt it necessary to take the time to ask voters what they think of Limbaugh. He isn't running for office and frankly, I don't think anyone cares what people think of him anymore so than any other radio talk show host. There are so many important issues to discuss with voters that perhaps you should give more attention to those things. I have yet to see a question on any poll whether the voters in a particular state think of Obama's policies on the economy or on whether the healthcare issue is important to how a voter will ultimately vote. These are the kinds of things that really matter.

[Memphis Belle]

I didn't know that Rush Limbaugh was running for office!

Oh, he's not? My bad.

[tbert]

Southern Republicans holding retrograde racial attitudes? I am shocked, just shocked, to find this in the party of the Southern Strategy.

[Jay]

That's half of Republicans in three key states who believe that Obama was not born in this country and yet you still call Birthers a "fringe group". Only a group as biased as the PPP would consider half of Republicans as part of the fringe.

[Silverknight196]

The same fringe groups that are convinced aliens come to earth to anal probe them. These are Santorum's fan base. The nation is doomed.

[Nick Anastasio]

If you're going to ask if President Obama was born in the United States, then your follow-up question to people who say "no" should be this: Is Hawaii part of the United States?

[Rudy Gonzales]

The TEA-GOP-Republican contenders are scared of 'Ol Brush Himoff and what he could do to them. Fringe group says it all. The fringe should have a voice, but with moderation. But, the TEA party doesn't want any moderation. They are a confrontational, in-your-face, contentious rabble. Since the Terroristic Economic Antagonist(TEA) party want to control every aspect of our economy and living standard, there will be no compromise by them at all. Middle-of-the-road discussion used to be the norm, but that has gone by the wayside since 2010. The Toxic Egotistica­l Activist(T­EA) party learned that if they control the local level, they have better control of power and monies and how to use those monies to their betterment at the expense of the general population. Get out and vote and get out the vote!

[MrTemecula]

After all this times, around 40% of Republicans still believe Obama was not born in the U.S. Perhaps Republicans do not realize Hawaii is part of the States.

[Christine]

"Half of Rebublicans . . . believe Obama was not born in this country." The average of 40%, 38%, 37% is 38.9%. That is not "half." The lead-in sentence to these results describes the results as showing "the birther contingent is still pretty strong within the Republican Party."

Later, in the section about which candidate is the most favored among these birthers, the word fringe is used to describe the group. Since fringe is subjective and not quantifiable, it probably should not have been used in this context.

[Blane]

Shame on every Republican candidate for not speaking out loudly and putting these and other factual issues to rest. Every time someone suggests that Obama, the PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, is not an American citizen or someone suggests he is a Muslim the legitimacy of our representative democracy is threatened by easily corrected mis-information. How can we expect our representatives in government to govern if they won't stand up to ignorance?

[D]

Considering that all the birther nonsense was debunked years ago, it's surprising that Southerners still cling to it. Although, they still believe that the Civil War was about States' Rights, and that slavery would have ended by itself if only those pesky Northerners had waited a year or two. So I guess it does make sense.
Oh, and Rush Limbaugh is an ass.

[Jack J. Morris]

The civil war was not to end slavery; it was to stop the loss of tax revenue from the export of southern cotton! It's money, money, money!

[Jack J. Morris]

The birther problem was settled long ago by Obama’s grandmother when she stated she witnessed his birth in Mombasa, Kenya when he was born. The Democrats just cannot let facts get in the way of what they want to believe. They were stunned when we won the war in Iraq because they wanted us to lose! How dare we! VISIT: end-irs.org