Donald Trump Takes Birther Questions Mainstream – Again

Donald Trump’s natural habitat is the public spotllight, and he is making the most of it now that his interest in the U.S. Presidency is well-known. It was remarkable, then, that the real estate and media mogul’s appearance on The View Wednesday brought to the mainstream an issue that has never – never – gone away: the question of why President Barack Obama won’t present the American public his long-form birth certificate to prove once and for all that he was born on U.S. soil.

What perplexes Trump, and so many others across the country, is that this issue would be so easy to put to bed forever, yet Obama refuses to do it.

I have polled this question for well over a year now, and remain chagrined that it lives so strong in the minds of average Americans.  But I am not surprised.  These sorts of political questions don’t fade when there is ample reason to wonder why he hasn’t put them to bed.

That Trump was willing to bring this issue to the front of the public debate again now is interesting because the mainstream media has done all it could to bury the questions over Obama’s origins, complete with over-the-top ridicule of any who would hold such thoughts in their heads.  This behavior by the national press corps has always struck me as over the top.  Obviously, these poll results show such reactions from reporters have done nothing to dissuade the questions in the minds of the public.

And, if the federal government is not able or willing to enforce this Constitutional requirement, Americans are perfectly happy to have the states step and do so on an individual basis.  This survey shows that 65% support state laws that require presidential candidates to prove they are qualified to hold the office of President before they will be allowed to appear on that state’s ballot.

The crosstabs to these questions are posted here:

How familiar are you with questions about Obama’s birth certificate?

What best describes your thinking about Obama’s birth certificate?

Do you support or oppose the release of Obama’s educational records?

What do you think about states requiring birth certificates from presidential candidates?