About one out of three likely voters in the U.S. thinks President Obama doesn’t love America.
Thirty-five percent of likely U.S. voters agreed with the following statement former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani made last week: “I do not believe that the president loves America. He doesn’t love you. And he doesn’t love me. He wasn’t brought up the way you were brought up and I was brought up through love of this country.”
Fifty-one percent disagree with the comment and 14 percent aren’t sure, according to the Rasmussen poll.
Sixty-two percent of Republicans do not believe Mr. Obama loves the country, while 77 percent of Democrats and unaffiliated voters, by a 48 percent to 33 percent margin, say that’s not true.
Eight percent of Democrats, 14 percent of Republicans, and 19 percent of unaffiliated voters aren’t sure.
Mr. Giuliani’s remarks set off a media frenzy, and White House spokesman Joshua Earnest said last week he feels “sorry” for the former mayor and said the president’s love for the United States has been well documented.
Mr. Giuliani walked back his comments a bit earlier this week, saying in a Wall Street Journal piece he didn’t intend to question the president’s motives or the content of his heart.
The survey did not identify Mr. Giuliani as the source of the quote, but did ask voters about their impression of the former mayor; 52 percent had a favorable opinion of him.
The survey of 800 likely voters was conducted Feb. 22-23 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 percentage points.
• David Sherfinski can be reached at dsherfinski@washingtontimes.com.
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