One Reason For Birtherism: Not Knowing Hawaii Is A State

Public Policy Polling has conducted a detailed breakdown on birtherism, and has kindly answered for us an important question: how many of these people (birthers, that is) just don't realize that Hawaii is part of the U.S.? Do some think President Obama was born there, but that that doesn't mean he was born here, thinking Hawaii is some sort of territory? Well, the answer is six percent. Six percent of PPP's poll respondents believed Hawaii is not part of the country; four percent were unsure. If that surprises you, watch a segment of Jaywalking. There are others who say Obama was born in Hawaii before it became a state in 1959, a different rationality for birtherism altogether, but it looks like those stats on birthers--they've been clocked at 11 percent of the country by Research 2000 and at 24 percent by PPP, which, we should note, uses automated telephone surveys to obtain its results--may be partially inflated by basic confusion over Hawaii's statehood.