Public Policy Polling (
PDF). March 17-18. Illinois likely Republican primary voters. ±4.4%.
Do you think Barack Obama is a Christian or a Muslim, or are you not sure?
Christian: 24
Muslim: 39
Not sure: 37
Do you think Barack Obama was born in the United States, or not?
Was born in U.S.: 36
Not born in U.S.: 36
Not sure: 28
Do you believe in evolution, or not?
Believe in evolution: 41
Do not: 43
Not sure: 16
Of course, President Obama is a Christian, he was born in the United States, and evolution is quite real. If you believe otherwise, you're either ignorant or hateful or both. (Well, to be fair, your belief—or lack thereof—in evolution doesn't really have anything to do with whether or not you are hateful.)
It's been fashionable in some circles to suggest that when PPP asked these questions of Alabama and Mississippi Republican primary voters, it was trying to trick Republican voters into saying mean things. If that's what you believe, then you also believe that Republican primary voters are incapable of answering the questions that PPP asked, the wording of which is presented above.
If you think Republican primary voters are incapable of correctly answering those questions despite knowing the correct answer, then you must believe that the people answering the questions are so full of hatred that they are willing to lie about what they believe. The only other option is that you believe they are fools. (Unless you too would have answered the question incorrectly.) But whatever your explanation for these answers may be, they reveal something about the Republicans who answered them—not the pollster who posed them.