Shock poll: 'Birthers' rule

President Barack Obama pauses as he listens to a question during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington

A new poll is shocking the political powers in Washington with indication that only 3 in 10 members of the GOP believe that Barack Obama was born in the United States.

With the issue still disputed in a number of court cases and under review by nearly a dozen states considering laws that presidential candidates document their constitutional eligibility, the poll by Public Policy Polling found that only 28 percent of the Republicans surveyed believe Obama was born in the U.S. while 51 percent do not.

Another 21 percent say they are not sure.

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"Any thought that the birther theory has been put to rest can be thrown out the window," Dean Debnam, the president of the Democratic-leaning polling firm, told Politico.

"That view is still widely held in Republican circles," he said.

Chris Matthews, host of "Hardball" on MSNBC, discussed the stunning poll numbers on his program tonight, perplexed by the growing tide of those questioning Obama's eligibility.

It was only a few months after Obama's inauguration that a WND/Wenzel Poll showed that 51.3 percent of Americans said they were aware of the questions raised about Obama's constitutional eligibility for office. Only 18.7 percent said they were not and another 30 percent were unsure.

At that point, 58.2 percent of the GOP said they were aware of the controversy.

Polls since then have shown Americans to be increasingly skeptical of Obama's official narrative:

A survey by Angus Reid Global Monitor, a division of Vision Critical Group, in October 2009 found three in 10 people in the U.S. believed Obama to be a foreigner.
"While only 13 percent of Democratic Party supporters believe Obama was not born in the U.S., the proportion rises to 25 percent among independents and 51 percent among Republican Party backers," the report said.
Then in January 2010, another WND/Wenzel Poll revealed on the one-year anniversary of Obama's tenure in office that fully one-third of Americans refused to believe Obama was a "legitimate president," with another 15.8 percent saying they were not sure.
Barely half the voters, 51.5 percent, said they believed the president legitimate even though he had not yet produced the documentation proving his constitutional eligibility. Even 14.6 percent of the Democrats said they did not consider him legitimate.
In May 2010, a WND/Wenzel Poll revealed that 55 percent of Americans wanted Obama to release all records relating to his childhood and his education, including "college records, Harvard Law School papers, passport records, travel records, and other similar documentation."
"Asked what should be done should it be found that Obama does not meet the qualifications to be president, 59 percent said he should be removed from office, and 35 percent said all bills signed into law by Obama should be repealed," the poll's analysis revealed.
By last June, other media were beginning to put their toes in the waters of the controversy. A 60 Minutes-Vanity Fair poll revealed only 39 percent of respondents believe Obama was born in Hawaii as he claimed in his book.
"A shocking 63 percent – very nearly two-thirds of us – went out on a limb and stated for the record that we believe in the United States. It's enough to make you proud to be an American – or 63 percent proud, at any rate."

But that figure included those who said they believe he was born in Kansas or some other unknown state, which still would conflict with Obama's story.
Last August, a poll by CNN said 6 of 10 people were uncertain Obama was born in the U.S. The poll said only 42 percent believe Obama "definitely" was born in the U.S.
The CNN report said that, "Hawaii has released a copy of the president's birth certificate – officially called a 'certificate of live birth.' And in 1961 the hospital where the president was born placed announcements in two Hawaiian newspapers regarding Obama's birth."

However, the online image released by the Obama campaign during his presidential race actually is called a "Certification of Live Birth," and those documents under the rules in the state of Hawaii were available for children not born in the state.

The newest poll from Public Policy Polling revealed 51 percent of 400 Republican primary voters disbelieve Obama's claims to be eligible constitutionally to hold the office of president and another 21 percent said they were not sure.

According to the poll, GOP voters also are putting Mike Huckabee at the top of the national field of candidates for the GOP nomination for president in 2012, following by Mitt Romney.

The Politico report editorialized: "A 51 percent majority of national GOP primary voters erroneously think President Obama was
not born in the U.S. 28 percent know that he was."

Questions about Obama's eligibility to be president have been exacerbated by his refusal to answer questions and release ordinary background documentation and his extraordinary legal maneuvers to keep his background hidden.

The Constitution requires a president to be a "natural-born citizen," which is not the same as a "citizen."

Fritz Wenzel of Wenzel Strategies has warned, "Simply put, this question about Obama's legitimacy as president is undermining everything he does in the minds of millions of Americans."