Some advance Daily Kos/Research 2000 poll data has some very interesting information on the “death panel” belief among Republicans, Greg Sargent reports — showing some potential overlap with another right-wing belief, that of the Birthers.
The poll asked this question: “Do you think the health care reform plan being considered by President Obama and Congress creates ‘death panels’ which have the authority to subjectively determine whether or not a gravely ill or injured person should receive health care based on their ‘level of productivity in society’?”
Among Republicans, 26% said yes, the health plan does create death panels, with 43% saying no, and 31% not sure.
Now compare that to a Kos/R2K poll from two weeks ago, asking people whether President Obama was born in the United States. Among Republicans, it was 42% yes, 28% no, 30% undecided.
In these two sets, the percentages of Republicans who are Birthers or are Deathers are statistically indistinguishable from each other, as too are the undecided and sane positions.