Republicans acutely hostile to Obama, says poll

WASHINGTON - A poll of 2,000 Republicans - sponsored by the liberal website but conducted by independent pollster Research2000 - paints a picture of a Republican base that’s angry, disaffected and acutely hostile to President Barack Obama.

Thirty-nine percent of Republicans polled think Obama should be impeached, 36 percent say he wasn’t born in the United States and one in four say they aren’t even sure he’s a U.S. citizen. Another 63 percent labeled the president a “socialist.”

Those numbers are far higher than similar polls of Democrats and independents - polls that reveal dissatisfaction with many of Obama’s programs but not with the president personally.

“It was the first time we ever asked the impeachment question, … but ask independents if Obama was born in the U.S., and about 85 percent say yes,” said Research2000 President Del Ali.

“This shows a huge vulnerability for Republicans,” says Jef Pollock, a veteran pollster and Democratic strategist working for Sen. Arlen Specter, who was forced to bolt from the GOP after conservative Pat Toomey attacked him from the right.

If Republicans want to leverage Scott Brown’s Massachusetts victory into a November electoral avalanche, they’ll need to keep their base riled up - but not too riled up.

The party’s greatest challenge, operatives and elected officials in both parties say, is keeping the conservative base energized without overshooting the mainstream and driving away the moderate “Brown independents” they’ll need to take back Congress. (ANI)