A Newsweek article triggered by a new survey revealing that 51 percent of Republicans said they think former President Barack Obama was born in Kenya, compared to just 14 percent of Democrats included reference to Professor of Government Philip Klinkner’s research on birtherism. Earlier in the month, Vox also included Klinkner’s research in a piece that focused on Trump’s continued focus on “conspiracy theories about whether former President Barack Obama was born in the U.S.”
The Dec. 11 Newsweek article, titled Some Republicans Still Think Obama Was Born in Kenya as Trump Resurrects Birther Conspiracy Theory, summarized Klinkner’s research: “…the belief [in President Obama’s birth in Kenya] is nearly impossible to correct and ‘strongly related [to] partisanship and attitudes about race.’" The Vox article also highlighted his finding that “belief in birtherism is strongly related [to] partisanship and attitudes about race.”
