The Size of the Problem

scream

The Scream

As those of us who work for truth, justice and the American way take some comfort in Philip J. Berg’s most recent defeat at the hands of the DC District Court, a bit of sobering “old news” must be kept in mind.

Despite my attempts to marginalize the issue of Obama citizenship denial, to relegate it to conspiracy theorists, and assert that the number of people that share the delusion is small, that is not the case, at least not the last part.
There are literally tens of millions of Americans that believe Barack Obama is not a natural born citizen and almost 60% of us have at least heard about the issue.

These statistics from a post-election survey co-directed by Ohio State University communications Prof. R. Kelly Garrett.

Garrett and James N. Danziger, a professor at the University of California, Irvine, commissioned a representative national telephone survey of 600 Americans to learn about the role of the Internet in spreading rumors about the presidential campaign. The survey was conducted the two weeks following the election (November 6 to 20) [prior to the launch of Obama Conspiracy Theories] and has a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

The poll showed about 10% of Americans believed the rumor that Barack Obama was not a natural-born citizen; 22% believed he was Muslim.

Nearly one in three Americans got campaign information from video sharing sites such as YouTube. And it wasn’t just the young: the average age of individuals who said they got campaign news from online video sites on a daily basis was 40 years old.

Perhaps this web site is not a waste of time after all.

Dr. Conspiracy

Dr. Conspiracy

About Dr. Conspiracy

I'm not a real doctor, but I have a master's degree.
This entry was posted in Birthers, Citizenship, Lounge, Philip Berg, Polls and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

60 Responses to The Size of the Problem

  1. Ian Gould says:

    600 is a pretty small sample for a national poll and I’d like to see the questionnaire before placing too much credence in this.

  2. NBC says:

    Well at least the number believing he is a Muslim is twice as high as those believing that he is not a natural born citizen.
    Some hope in this madness.
    Good thing the courts are not guided by foolish principles such as Orly’s ‘we pay your salaries so you’d better listen to us’ arguments.

  3. NBC says:

    And yes, I believe that your website place an important role. I have added my own efforts to my own website to bring together a relevant list of resources.

    I applaud your efforts. A true patriot does not have to claim that he is one…

    Perhaps it’s time to put the combined research into a briefing book for media and congress?

  4. bogus info says:

    NBC,

    I think so. Orly is organized but her message is lies and irrational fear. I think Congress needs to know that there is also a group of people who support President Obama. I also believe all the State Senators need to know this too. I have been emailing elected officials who have joined with Orly and respectfully requested them to at least look at the other side of the issue. I direct them to (with links provided) Obama Conspiracy, whatsyourevidence, politijab and the article in the Tribune where Hawaiian officials confirm that Obama was born in Hawaii. I also tell them that politijab has compentent and ethical lawyers that have done the research and suggested that they come to the site to engage in discussion of this issue.

    But, I think this information needs to be provided at least to members of Congress and also the media where they can be informed.

  5. Heavy says:

    The will of the people WILL NOT be denied!

    The TRUTH is finally starting to make it’s way to the people despite the best efforts of the media to hide it from them. The American people have been duped. And when the TRUTH finally comes out, there will be HELL to pay!

    Where there is smoke there is fire and this one can be contained no longer.

    There are two ways to do this…The easy way or the hard way. Your messiah has chosen the hard way. Shame on him. And shame on those who aid and abet him.

  6. I don’t know if you saw this additional information link:

    http://www.comm.ohio-state.edu/kgarrett/rumors09.pdf

  7. Sounds like a worthy project.

  8. I got this email from Orly yesterday, full of the usual stuff, so (foolish or not) I did a REPLY to her whole media mailing list from Rush Limbaugh to Newsweek calling it a pack of lies, throwing in s few facts and bunch of links back here. We’ll see what happens.

  9. Robyn says:

    “We the People” are apparently supposed to vett the candidates but the courts won’t allow us to by continuing to deny a request from “We the People”. The government allowed by “We The People” does not seem to work anymore. If the people can not see a copy of Mr. Obama’s signed birth certificate (not a computer COLB)then that seems to be proof that our government has been taken over by socialists who want to turn our Republic into a communist nation.

  10. The Obama-released birth certificate is signed (on the back). This is proof “We the People” elected rational people and not crank conspiracy theorists.

  11. richCares says:

    Heavy, explain this, Alvin T. Onaka stated that he viewed Obama’s original BC on file, in addition Onaka signed and certified the BC that is on display in Obama’s office:
    Link to signature:
    http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sig.jpg

    Alvin T. Onaka, Ph.D. State Registrar and Chief of the Office of Health Status Monitoring of the Hawaii Department of Health was recently elected President of the National Association for Public Health Statistics and Information Systems (NAPHSIS) at their 69th Annual Meeting in Anchorage, Alaska.

  12. myson says:

    If ‘we the people’ (actually you American) cant see the candidate’s record & files & the court wont help , then ‘we the people’ should vote for the other guy.

    Oh i forgot that was done already, apparently ‘we the people’ choose Obama

  13. Ian Gould says:

    “The will of the people WILL NOT be denied!

    The TRUTH is finally starting to make it’s way to the people..”

    You know this poll was done back in November, right?

  14. Ian Gould says:

    ““We the People” are apparently supposed to vett the candidates but the courts won’t allow us to by continuing to deny a request from “We the People”. The government allowed by “We The People” does not seem to work anymore.”

    A lot of “We the people” thought George W Bush was an alcoholic and coke addict. They never got to subject him to regular drug tests.

  15. Heavy says:

    Being an addict is not illegal last time I checked. Claiming to be NBC when you are not IS!

    While we’re on the subject, has THE ONE ever personally claimed to be NBC or was it his “People”?

  16. richCares says:

    People on the right don’t understand Obama’s grass roots movement, nor do they understand his popularity. So they assume he must be godly, they call him “Messiah” or “The One”, they just fall a step short of worshiping Obama. It’s nice that Heavy reveres Obama so highly, but hey Heavy, he is not really godly, that’s all in your head! Please do get back on your meds.

  17. Heavy says:

    Yes, the people chose him under false pretenses. It happens all the time.

  18. Heavy says:

    Notice I said YOUR messiah. Liberals have severe comprehension issues.

  19. Ian Gould says:

    “Being an addict is not illegal last time I checked”

    Possession and use of cocaine isn’t a criminal offence?

    who knew.

  20. Heavy says:

    More spin! Possesion is an ACT, while addiction is a STATE. Nice try, though.

  21. richCares says:

    then why do you keep calling him Messiah, you keep saying it, you must believe it, and why don’t you answer about Alvin T. Onaka!

  22. Ian Gould says:

    Yes but it’s kinda hard to develop the addiction without committing the act of possession.

    “The President’s aides shoot him up. He never actually has the coke in his hands. He thought the injections were vitamins.’

  23. Heavy says:

    Onaka and Fukino stated that the state holds his BC. So what?

    The press reported that those comments were proof positive that THE ONE was born in HI. it is anything but.

  24. NBC says:

    He is the president. Seems to moot the issue really…

    Get over it, he won. The next few years we will see a different governance. Thank God

  25. richCares says:

    as for Onaka, what’s this on the back of Obama’s BC

    http://www.obamaconspiracy.org/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/sig.jpg

  26. nbc says:

    The courts prevent ‘we the people’ from harassing elected people just because ‘we the people’ disagree with their policies.

    That’s really what it is all about, isn’t it? ‘We the people’ lost at the polls…

    Pathetic display.

  27. Heavy says:

    Actually, he is NOT President. He does not meet constitutional requirements.

  28. Bob says:

    10% believe that Obama is not a natural born citizen? That seems high.

  29. You keep discounting Fukino’s statement, but you never explain why this is not conclusive.

  30. Who appointed you judge over the matter?

  31. Bob says:

    In many states, being under the influence of a controlled substance in a crime; possession is a separate crime. (That way, consuming the evidence won’t necessarily be an escape from criminal liability.)

  32. Ian Gould says:

    There’s a pretty well-known phenomena in opinion sampling where people tend to agree with what they think the interviewer wants to hear as the interview continues (basically because they want to finish as soon as possible).

    but the “Have you heard Obama is not an NBC?” question is very early in the survey so the response rate is unlikely to be inflated.

  33. Heavy says:

    The statement is a vague response to a very direct question. Given the vagueness of the response, timing and media response it is very suspect.

    If you asked your doctor if he found cancer after examining your prostate and his response was “I confirm you have a prostate” would that suffice?

  34. Heavy says:

    Yes, but being an addict does not necessarily mean you are under the influence, does it?

  35. richCares says:

    I apologize for attempting to engage the troll “heavy”, I promise to ignore him from now on. There is no way reality is anywhere near him.

  36. Heavy says:

    I am the judge of my own thoughts. Liberals, on the other hand, must be told what to think.

  37. Ian Gould says:

    Let me rephrase my initial statement:

    “Many of “we the people” believed that AS PRESIDENT George W Bush was a regular user of cocaine thereby violating Federal and state law and that such offences taken in toto amounted to the “high crimes and misdemeanours” prescribed by the Constitution as grounds for impeachment”.

    Personally, I think Bush quit using cocaine after his religious experience in the 1990s but this doesn’t alter the fact that many of “we the people” believed Bush was abusing cocaine while in office.

    Absent proof to support that opinion, demanding Bush undergo regular drug tests is as unreasonable as demanding that Obama “prove” his place of birth to an unreasonable standard.

  38. Heavy says:

    I disagree. If enough people felt that was the case, they should have done something about it. I imagine that the number of people who think that THE ONE is not elligible is FAR greater than those who thought Bush to be using cocaine.

  39. Heavy says:

    Thanks, rich. Liberals always run from truth. You have not mounted ONE logical argument for your position. How “Liberal” of you.

  40. bogus info says:

    Heavy,

    “Being an addict is not illegal last time I checked.”

    Excuse me? If you are caught with whatever you are addicted to, cocaine, heroin, meth, etc., then it is illegal. It is not illegal to consume ETOH; however, it is illegal to drive under the influence of ETOH. At my son’s school, they drug test the students. The first time a kid comes back with a positive test, they notify the parents. The 2nd time, they notify the parents and law enforcement officials.

  41. Heavy says:

    Again, do not confuse the ACT with the STATE.

  42. Are you talking about process modeling or something else?

  43. gimmeabreak says:

    I imagine that the number of people who think that THE ONE is not elligible is FAR greater than those who thought Bush to be using cocaine.

    I suppose you have facts to back up that statement?

  44. I suspect that enough people wrote their Congressman, something would happen. But they didn’t, so it didn’t. This is why I keep coming back to the constitutional ways that we deal with controversy, which do not include “civilian militias” and “national grand juries” or whatever extra-legal pseudo authority the nut cases come up with next.

  45. That explains a lot.

  46. Ian Gould says:

    I should point out too that the margin of error for the study is 4.5%,

    So there’s a 95% chance the actual figure is somewhere between 5.5 and 14.5%.

  47. Ian Gould says:

    It’s hardly a reliable measure of interest in the issue but its noteworthy that all the rumors about Obama have dropped off Snopes top 25 Urban Legends page which is apparently based on how frequently an item shows up in e-mail or is referred to them by a reader.

  48. brygenon says:

    Just take Heavy lightly.

  49. Hitandrun says:

    “Where there is smoke there is fire…”

    Not always, Heavy. Sometimes there are only mirrors.

    Hitandrun

  50. Hitandrun says:

    But Mr Gould, drug-free status is not a Constitutional requisite of eligibility. Natural born citizenship is.

    Hitandrun

  51. Hitandrun says:

    I take it then, Mr Gould, you deem providing a certified copy of the original birth certificate to be an “unreasonable standard”?
    Not to this beholding eye.

    Hitandrun

  52. Hitandrun says:

    “I promise to ignore him [Heavy] from now on…”

    richCares, I urge you to reconsider. Your exchanges with Heavy usefully demonstrate how in style and substance of argument Obot and Nobot clearly mirror each other.

    Stay well,
    Hitandrun

  53. Ian Gould says:

    “Not to this beholding eye.:

    Unfortunately for you, the Attorneys General of all 50 states; all members of Congress and the entire Federal court system up to and including the Supreme Court disagree.

  54. Hitandrun says:

    So you’ve polled them all?
    I wish I had your energy and persistence.

    Stay well,
    Hitandrun

  55. Ian Gould says:

    I don’t have to poll them.

    The Attorneys-General accepted the formal application for Obama’s inclusion on the ballots in their states.

    Congress unanimously ratified the vote of the electoral college.

    Polls show that between 60 and 90% of Americans were aware of the rumors regarding Obama’s eligibility but, for example, not a single Republican A-G chose to request supplementary supporting data for the application and not a single Republican Representative asked for a debate ion the EC vote – as is provided for in the Constitution.

    Every law suit on this issue has been dismissed. While they’ve primarily been rejected on the grouds of standing the rejectiosn have been quite preemptory.

    If a court feels a case has merit or addresses an important legal point, they might dismiss for standing but in doing so would indicate who WOULD have standing if the case we refiled.

  56. And I gather that the Supreme Court can hear anything it chooses, and it dismissed 4 of them.

  57. bogus info says:

    I don’t how reliable this poll is but it was the poll that was done in the article at Military.com
    http://www.military.com/news/article/February-2009/officer-calls-obama-usurper-imposter-president.html?col=1186032325324

    “Created: Wednesday, February 25, 2009

    Should a Soldier serve if he doesn’t believe the president is legitimate?

    Yes, a Soldier takes an oath to serve the nation and President Obama was duly elected. 1st Lt. Easterling is just trying to get publicity and he should be court martialed.
    31%
    If a Soldier in good conscience does not believe the president is constitutionally eligible to serve, he should not execute his duties and is right to protest the president’s orders.
    32%
    Easterling should continue to honor the dignity of his men by executing his orders as given. He should pursue other avenues to challenge the legitimacy of the president.
    37%

  58. awe_and_shock says:

    Doc,

    You still haven’t put ‘liberal’ in the glossary page. Should take just a second, copy/paste the definition from ‘checkmate’.

  59. I consider this poll totally unreliable. Anyone, not just someone in the military can take the poll. Further certain organizations are notorious for mobilizing its members to sway polls. It’s what you call an “unscientific” (meaning not statistically valid) poll.

  60. bogus info says:

    I agree. But still thought it was interesting because Orly’s bunch sent everyone over there to vote. LOL.

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