APRIL 29TH 2011 Following on from Obama releasing his long form birth certificate we have again retired this poll. Obviously there are many people who still have issues but it is no longer a mainstream debate. At the point of closing this poll only 36% of our voters thought he was a citizen.
DEC 29TH 2010: We have decided to bring our Obama birther poll back to life. The poll is entitled Is Obama an American Citizen? and was one of our very first polls in late 2008 because it was a very topical issue then. The poll was popular in terms of garnering votes but it also generated more complaints than any other poll mostly because many people said this is not a real political issue but a fringe issue and taking it seriously denigrates the Office of President and democracy itself.
In the end however we decided plenty of mainstream press covered the issue and while no senior politician gave it oxygen quite a number of politicians did and a number of popular commentators. And people voted on it. So we decided it is a legitimate political issue. As an apolitical forum dedicated to promoting global democratic discourse our only concern is that issues are legitimately political regardless of whether a particular debate is in good taste or “politically correct”.
Over time interest dwindled and we closed the poll. However the issue has been reborn with some verve because of two people in the public eye.
With the Obama family spending time in Hawaii over the 2010 holiday season the new Governor of Hawaii, Neil Abercrombie, has been talking to the Press Corps and wants to put to rest the birther controversy. He was a friend of Obama’s parents and claims the birthers have “a political agenda not worthy of any good American.”
Then Andy Martin, the self-proclaimed ‘king of the birthers,’ announced he’ll run for president. Actually he will run for the Republican nomination for president on a “birther” platform.
To vote in the poll click here. When we turned it off the poll was showing 60% of our voters believing Obama is NOT a citizen.
