great find

Oh god, southerners.

I have the feeling that if he was fully white and not just half, but every other detail was the same (dad not a citizen, mother is a citizen, etc), it would have never come up as an issue.

Something tells me that Evangelical Christians are the main believers in the 'Birther Conspiracy'. Before the election, they were babbling on about how he was the Antichrist, and all kinds of other nonsense about Biblical end-times prophecy.

The racist, backward, albatross that is the south lives up to its degenrate reputation yet again. We should just cut it fucking loose and move the rest of the nation forward.

For those of you complaining about Southerners, are you going to read the whole chart - which includes a majority of people who believe Obama was born in America, just like the other regions - or are you just going to read it selectively in order to deepen your own prejudice in the same way that the birthers select what facts they want to believe?

"For those of you complaining about Southerners, are you going to read the whole chart – which includes a majority of people who believe Obama was born in America, just like the other regions"

Actually, it doesn't. It contains a plurality, but not a majority.

But ignoring that flaw in your statement, the distance between the South and the rest of the country with respect to this is overwhelming, and should be embarrassing, regardless of whether it's a majority or not.

I'm in the 40% of Southerners who is not a "birther"...and no one even asked me...

I think it's important to not lose sight of the fact that while overt racism and racist commentary may be more openly present in the South, racism in other regions of the US is still present...it is just more covert and insidious. I often prefer the racist that is open about their racism over the racist who denies that they are part of the problem.

Ditto on the comments that give Southerners a tad more credit. Peoples' opinions are largely shaped by their immediate communities, and not all of 'the South' (there's a monolithic generality, if ever there was one) is made up of highly religious or even conservative communities.

I also question how these different quadrants were delineated. Is North/South divided by the Mason Dixon line?
Does this demarcation really divide ideologies that neatly?
The Mason/Dixon line puts Maryland and Washington DC in the South, for example, and those are two very solidly liberal locales. As is Northern Virginia, for that matter.

Just throwing that out there.
I come down absolutely on the side of 'Why the hell is anyone even giving this crackpot theory the time of day?' Like rachel, nobody polled me. As I live in Maryland, I don't even know what part of that chart my data would have fallen in. Probably the much maligned 'South'.

FYI, this chart was originally on Washington Monthly's Political Animal blog: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2009_07/019306.php.

Interesting chart, but I have to give it poor marks for clarity, because it lumps the entire country (possibly even only the 48 contiguous states) into four massive regions that aren't necessarily the ones with which are are comfortable.

Most importantly, to which part of the United States is "the South" referring in this example? If "West," "Northeast," and "Midwest" share similar characteristics, then why not lump them together and distribute "South" into finer-scale units. For example, is Florida the same as Virgina or Texas? (And is Texas "South" or "West" in this example?)

The methodology for this poll, including the states in each region, can be found here.

Trollin', trollin', trollin'
Duran's head is swollen
Keep them doggies trollin'
RAWHIDE!
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Sorry, digression.

Why should anyone have to "believe" it? Why doesn't Obama simply request the release of the long form birth certificate so everyone can see it with their own eyes? Is this some sort of faith-based initiative? LOL

speaking of birthers:

"do you believe that Hawaii is part of the United States? They asked that question. And fully 12 percent of North Carolina self-identified conservatives said no, Hawaii is not part of the United States. Or they just don't know whether it is.I mean, how could that ever be known?"

http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/PPP_Release_NC_811424.pdf

I don't think it's fair to talk about the South as if it just appeared 20 years ago out of nowhere. There's a long history of racism here. It comes in many varieties, from overt hatred to fear to patronization to tolerance of non-whites. It goes beyond race into socioeconomic status-- 200 years of slavery, separate-but-equal, and other dehumanizing policies and attitudes leave scars that take more than a generation to heal and have left many non-whites disadvantaged in so many ways. I'm ashamed of it, as are many Southerners (not just young people, and not just liberals).

I hope that racism is declining here. I certainly felt that way on election night, when my die-hard red state surprised even me when it voted for Obama. We have a long way to go, but I have hope in baby steps.