The Underbelly

by digby

From the Washington Independent:

A new poll from the Pew Research Center finds that 28 percent of Americans believe that there’s been “too little” coverage of “allegations that President Obama was not born in the United States” — including a plurality, 39 percent, of self-identified Republicans. Only 14 percent of Democrats and 30 percent of independents share that view.

“If anything surprised me, it’s how many people have heard about this,” said Michael Dimock, an associate director at the Pew Research Center. “When we put the question in, we said to ourselves, well, Lou Dobbs has covered it, and it’s been discussed on the Internet. For 80 percent of people to have heard something about this is pretty high.”

I hate to get myself in trouble here, but why would anyone think this is unusual in a country where only 39% of people believe in evolution?

[A] Gallup poll tied to Darwin’s birthday finds that just 39% of Americans believe in evolution. As expected, Gallup notes, education plays a big role here: 74% of those with post-graduate degrees believe in evolution. That’s compared with only 21% of high school grads (or those with less education) who believe in the theory. Ditto religion: 55% who don’t attend church believe in evolution, versus 24% of weekly churchgoers who believe in it.

This isn’t the smartest country in the world.
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