Barack Obama Citizenship Conspiracy Theories

Barack Obama Citizenship Conspiracy Theories

During Barack Obama's campaign for president and in the years following his election, many conspiracy theories have been circulated, asserting that he is not a natural-born citizen of the United States and consequently, under Article Two of the U.S. Constitution, is ineligible to be President of the United States.

Some of these theories allege that Obama's published birth certificate is a forgery—that his actual birthplace is not Hawaii but Kenya. Other theories allege that Obama became a citizen of Indonesia in childhood, thereby losing his U.S. citizenship. Still others claim that Obama is not a natural-born U.S. citizen because he was born a dual citizen (British and American). Some political commentators have characterized these various claims as a racist reaction to Obama's status as the first African American president of the United States.

Such claims have been promoted by fringe theorists ("birthers"), some of whom have sought court rulings either declaring Obama ineligible to take office, or granting access to various documents which they claim exist, and which they claim would evidence such ineligibility; none of these efforts have been successful. Some political opponents, especially in the Republican Party, have expressed skepticism about Obama's citizenship or been unwilling to acknowledge it; some have proposed legislation which would require presidential candidates to provide proof of eligibility.

Expressed belief in such theories has persisted despite Obama's pre-election release of his official Hawaiian birth certificate in 2008; confirmation, based on the original documents, by the Hawaii Department of Health; and the April 2011 release of a certified copy of Obama's original Certificate of Live Birth (or long-form birth certificate); and contemporaneous birth announcements published in two Hawaii newspapers. Polls conducted in 2010 suggested that at least one quarter of adult Americans said that they doubted Obama's U.S. birth, while a May 2011 Gallup poll found that 13% of American adults (23% of Republicans) continued to express such doubts.