The so-called 'birther' conspiracy theory has persisted since President Obama's 2008 campaign. 41% of GOP: Obama foreign-born

On President Barack Obama’s birthday, a new CNN/Opinion Research released Wednesday shows 41 percent of Republicans believe Obama was “probably” or “definitely” born in another country.

The poll of 1,018 adults shows 27 percent of Americans believe the president was “probably” or “definitely” born in another country, compared with 71 percent who think he was born in the United States.


Among the 285 self-identified Republicans polled, however, the percentage who think Obama was born outside of the country spikes to 41 percent, with 57 percent believing he was born in the United States.

Nineteen percent of independents think Obama was “probably” or “definitely” born in another country, as do 15 percent of Democrats. CNN/Opinion Research surveyed 398 independents and 335 Democrats for the poll.

A certificate of live birth from the state of Hawaii confirms that Wednesday is indeed the president’s 49th birthday spent as a natural-born American citizen, yet the so-called “birther” conspiracy theory that he was born in Kenya or another country has persisted since the 2008 campaign.

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh floated the theory during his show Tuesday, mentioning that the next day was the president’s birthday, though he hasn’t “seen any proof of that.”

The poll was conducted July 16-21 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points.

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