Research 2000 for Daily Kos. 1/20-31. Self-identified Republicans. MoE 2% (No trend lines)
OBAMA and AMERICA
Should Barack Obama be impeached, or not?
Yes 39
No 32
Not Sure 29For what? Who the heck knows. Who needs high crimes or misdemeanors when...
Do you think Barack Obama is a socialist?
Yes 63
No 21
Not Sure 16That's the power of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh, after one year of relentlessly claiming Obama is the second coming of Lenin ... and Hitler!
Do you believe Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?
Yes 42
No 36
Not Sure 22We still have over a half of Republicans who don't think Obama was born in the US or think it's a matter open to debate.
Do you believe Barack Obama wants the terrorists to win?
Yes 24
No 43
Not Sure 33Not just a quarter of Republicans believe this ludicrous premise, but another third think it's a matter open to debate. How do you negotiate with a party whose rank and file are that divorced from reality? And speaking of divorced from reality...
Do you believe ACORN stole the 2008 election?
Yes 21
No 24
Not Sure 55One in five Republicans think ACORN is so powerful as to magically make 10 million votes appear. Another 55 are open to the theory. In other words, just 24 percent of Republicans have an even passing relationship with reality.
Do you believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be President than Barack Obama?
Yes 53
No 14
Not Sure 33Sigh...
Do you believe Barack Obama is a racist who hates White people?
Yes 31
No 36
Not Sure 33I bet more people think Obama is racist, but were too afraid to tell a live operator the truth.
Do you believe your state should secede from the United States?
Yes 23
No 58
Not Sure 1942 percent of Republicans aren't really patriotic. They pretend to love America only when they approve of the president. These traitors don't believe in democracy, in our nation's founding ideals, or in our flag. To them, those colors run. They are cowards.
Note, secession sentiment is MUCH stronger in the South than elsewhere -- 33 percent want out, compared to just 52 percent who want to stay. In the Northeast, "just" 10 percent want out, in the Midwest, its 18 percent, and in the West, it's 16 percent. Can we cram them all into the Texas Panhandle, create the state of Dumbfuckistan, and build a wall around them to keep them from coming into America illegally?
ISSUES
Should Congress make it easier for workers to form and join labor unions?
Yes 7
No 68
Not Sure 25Would you favor or oppose giving illegal immigrants now living in the United States the right to live here legally if they pay a fine and learn English?
Favor 26
Oppose 59
Not Sure 15Do you support the death penalty?
Yes 91
No 4
Not Sure 5GAYS
Should openly gay men and women be allowed to serve in the military?
Yes 26
No 55
Not Sure 19Should same sex couples be allowed to marry?
Yes 7
No 77
Not Sure 16Should gay couples receive any state or federal benefits?
Yes 11
No 68
Not Sure 21Should openly gay men and women be allowed to teach in public schools?
Yes 8
No 73
Not Sure 19Oof. That's some serious neanderthal action going on. Gays can't serve their country, teach children, get married, or even have civil unions. That's the GOP agenda for gays, which makes the existence of the Log Cabin Republicans that much more of a mystery.
SCHOOLS
Should sex education be taught in the public schools?
Yes 42
No 51
Not Sure 7Should public school students be taught that the book of Genesis in the Bible explains how God created the world?
Yes 77
No 15
Not Sure 8In all of these questions, respondents from the South are slightly crazier, and those from the Northeast slightly less crazier, than the average. In these two questions, the differences are particularly exaggerated. In the South, the sex-ed question comes out 39-56, compared to 47-45 in the Northwest. For the creationism question, it's 82-9 in the South, compared to 70-23 in the Northwest.
I must admit, however, that I expected fewer Republicans to back sex ed. Another big surprise:
WOMEN
Are marrigiages equal partnerships, or are men the leaders of their households?
Men 13
Equal 76
Not Sure 11Should women work outside the home?
Yes 86
No 4
Not Sure 10Phyllis Schlafly is crying. That looks a lot more enlightened than I expected, likely because the economic reality is that few people can get away with single-income homes. But whatever the reason, on this front, there's progress. But that's where the progress ends:
Should contraceptive use be outlawed?
Yes 31
No 56
Not Sure 13Do you believe the birth control pill is abortion?
Yes 34
No 48
Not Sure 18Do you consider abortion to be murder?
Yes 76
No 8
Not Sure 16Over a third of Republicans believe the birth control pill is abortion, which explains why nearly a third of them want contraceptive use outlawed. This is so wingnutty, it's hardly believable. But it's true, just a bare majority oppose outlawing contraceptives.
What we didn't ask was whether the 76 percent who consider abortion to be murder would advocate executions for women who have them. Since 91 percent of respondents support the death penalty.
One last question:
Do you believe that the only way for an individual to go to heaven is though Jesus Christ, or can one make it to heaven through another faith?
Christ 67
Other 15
Not Sure 18Two-thirds of Republicans assume anyone that is not a Christian is going to hell. It certainly makes it easier for them to dehumanize their enemies, either real or perceived.
I'll address the presidential straw poll questions in a separate post.
Aside from my general alarm at the responses to questions like whether Obama should be impeached or whether Sarah Palin is more qualified than Obama to be president, I am deeply saddened by these results. At best, some of the responses in this research suggest that we have a lot of citizens who lack a basic understanding of our founding principles -- like separation of Church and State and the right to free, fair and open elections.
Perhaps the saddest part is that people who hold views like these seem most unlikely to be open to even discuss alternate ideas with folks like me. How can we ever solve any of our community or national (or world) problems without open discussion and compromise based on the points on which we agree?
What are your thoughts?
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