Many Republicans think Obama is a racist, socialist, non-US citizen

Shocking results from a new poll of more than 2,000 self-identified American Republican voters illustrates the incredible paranoia enveloping the party and the intense pressure drawing lawmakers further and further away from political moderation.

The numbers speak for themselves - a large portion of Republican voters think that President Obama is racist, socialist or a non-US citizen - though, when considering them, it is important to note that a disproportionate percentage of respondents are from Republican strongholds in the South (42 per cent) as opposed to the Northeast (11 per cent). Also note that this is a poll of self-identified Republicans, which means that independent Tea Party types are not included.

Nevertheless here are some of the standout figures as provided by Daily Kos/Research 2000:

39 per cent of Republicans believe Obama should be impeached, 29 per cent are not sure, 32 per cent said he should not be voted out of office.

36 per cent of Republicans believe Obama was not born in the United States, 22 per cent are not sure, 42 per cent think he is a natural citizen.

31 per cent of Republicans believe Obama is a "Racist who hates white people" - the description once adopted by Fox News's Glenn Beck. 33 per cent were not sure, and 36 per cent said he was not a racist.

63 percent of Republicans think Obama is a socialist, 16 per cent are not sure, 21 per cent say he is not.

24 per cent of Republicans believe Obama wants "the terrorists to win," 33 per cent aren't sure, 43 per cent said he did not want the terrorist to win.

21 per cent of Republicans believe ACORN stole the 2008 election, 55 percent are not sure, 24 per cent said the community organising group did not steal the election.

23 percent of Republicans believe that their state should secede from the United States, 19 per cent aren't sure, 58 per cent said no.

53 per cent of Republicans said they believe Sarah Palin is more qualified to be president than Obama.

During his appearance at the House Republican retreat last Friday, Obama explained that it was hard to forge bipartisan consensus when lawmakers were trashing his health care bill as a "Bolshevik plot". These poll numbers show that the gulf preventing bipartisan consensus extends well beyond health care. How does a Republican lawmaker explain to his or her die-hard base that it is important to work on legislation with a racist, socialist president who is illegally holding office only because of the help of ACORN?

"This is why it's becoming impossible for elected Republicans to work with Democrats to improve our country," said Markos Moulitsas, founder and publisher of Daily Kos. "They are a party beholden to conspiracy theorists who don't even believe Obama was born in the United States, and already want to impeach him despite a glaring lack of scandal or wrongdoing. They think Obama is racist against white people and the second coming of Lenin. And if any of them stray and decide to do the right thing and try to work in a bipartisan fashion, they suffer primaries and attacks. Given what their base demands - and this poll illustrates them perfectly - it's no wonder the Republicans are the party of no."