About half of Republicans believe that President Barack Obama is so incapable of winning an election fair and square that they blame his victory on cheating by a group that doesn’t even exist.

Following this year’s election, Public Policy Polling (PPP) asked voters if the controversial group ACORN stole the election from Mitt Romney. Among Republicans, 49% said “yes.”

What’s most remarkable about this opinion is that ACORN, which stands for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, filed for bankruptcy and disbanded in 2010 after GOP lawmakers in the U.S. House voted to end all federal support for the group.

The now defunct group also was blamed by Republican voters for Obama’s 2008 election, after which 52% of respondents to a PPP survey said ACORN stole that election too.

“A lot of Republicans are having a hard time accepting the results of the election,” Dean Debnam, PPP’s president, said in a prepared statement. “Some want their states to secede from the union, while others claim they don’t think Obama was the legitimate winner.” Indeed, about a quarter of GOP voters dislike the president so much that they want their state to secede from the union.

PPP is a polling operation founded by Debnam, a former Democratic pollster. Because of Debnam’s background, some political experts consider PPP Democrat-leaning.

-Noel Brinkerhoff

To Learn More:

Republicans Not Handling Election Results Well (Public Policy Polling)

National Opinion on Libya, the Norquist Plan and Obama’s Reelection (Public Policy Polling) (pdf)

Right-Wing Misinformation Leads Half Of Republicans To Believe ACORN Stole 2012 Election (by Stephen Webster, Raw Story)