About That Allegedly 'Stunning' Poll of Republican Views . . .

A reader writes in, asking about a poll commissioned by the creator of Daily Kos, purporting to show that a large number of Republican voters have strange or way-out-of-the-mainstream views.

Over at The Atlantic, they note that Markos Moulitsas conducted the view with a clear agenda:

"As I've mentioned before, I'm putting the finishing touches on my new book, American Taliban, which catalogues the ways in which modern-day conservatives share the same agenda as radical Jihadists in the Islamic world," he writes. "But I found myself making certain claims about Republicans that I didn't know if they could be backed up. So I thought, 'why don't we ask them directly?'"

The pollster, Research 2000, is legitimate, but some are asking fair questions about whether the sample skews too Southern, too male, and too old to accurately represent Republicans as a whole.

I'd note that pollsters generally agree that the number of self-identified Republicans shrank since, say, 2004, and while GOP candidates are doing better, you're not seeing a comeback among voters who want to identify as Republicans. In other words, a lot of conservatives left the GOP during Bush's second term, and would see themselves as independent, and not identify as a Republican if called by Research 2000. The folks who answered the phones for that pollster are very, very, very loyal Republicans.

Beyond that, I don't find too many of these findings that surprising or even that troubling.

"63% of Republicans believe President Obama is a socialist."

Will we soon see Obama reviewing parades of nukes and troops marching in an American Red Square? Nah, but Obama's goal pretty clearly is to bring America closer to a European, Social Democrat–style model, in which there is a large government role in almost every aspect of the economy and regulating citizens' lives from cradle (Head Start!) to grave (estate tax!) and a large amount of governmental energy is spent "spreading the wealth around," as he put it on the campaign trail. Calling him a socialist is inflammatory, but it's not necessarily inaccurate.

"53% believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Obama is."

I doubt many of those folks actually could point to a compelling case of a high crime or misdemeanor; this question strikes me as a stand-in for, "I don't like President Obama and want him to go away."

"36% believe Obama wasn't born in the United States."

Perhaps the most troubling result, but I suspect again this is a "to hell with him" response. If you asked people to lay out a compelling case of a Kenyan birth and a secret plot to sneak him to Hawaii just to preserve his eligibility for the presidency 40-some years later, few could manage it. Again, I think this question and answer strike me as a stand-in of, "I don't trust President Obama about anything."

"31% believe the president hates white people"

Maybe these respondents are just "acting stupidly" — obviously Obama doesn't hate William Ayers or Michael Pfleger — but they could very well be drawing conclusions based on who gets cut slack from Obama (those who preach the unimaginable from the pulpit for 20 years) and those who are judged in an instant (Cambridge cops).

"24% believe the president wants the terrorists to win."

This probably is related to the "he's really a Muslim" conspiracy theory. It's nonsense, of course, but it's not that hard to imagine what facts lead one down that path. If you think using waterboarding and other interrogation methods are necessary, along with keeping Gitmo open, not prosecuting CIA personnel for interrogating al-Qaeda, not putting KSM on trial in Manhattan, etc., you probably look at Obama's methods and conclude he doesn't want to do what's necessary to win. And you probably think his endless tour of Muslim countries talking about America's flaws is just feeding into the other side's propaganda (it sure as heck hasn't calmed them, has it?).

It's a short jump from "he isn't willing to do what's necessary to win the war" to "in his heart, he wants the other guys to win."

"23% believe their state should secede from the union."

Troubling as it may seem, I interpret this sentiment as, "Go to hell, Washington," which is not that uncommon a view these days . . .

UPDATE: A reader adds:

You're missing my view of the survey. Yes, the answers some people gave were idiotic, BUT SO WERE THE QUESTIONS. If you are dumb enough to ask me if you think my home state of Washington should secede from the Union, I'd just say yes. The fact that you asked the question said a lot more about you then my answer says about me. The question basically says, "I think you're an ignorant, uneducated stooge. Are you?"  If you ask me that question, I'd just say, "Yah, sure, I'm ignorant and uneducated. Go away."

Essentially, if you are going to ask me a dumb question, I'm going to give you a dumb answer. 

Even if this isn't true, how many democrats would have said they thought Iraq was a "war for Bush to control Iraqi oil," or that Bush knew about 9/11 beforehand?