The political effectiveness of the Birther Lie can be seen in the results of the NBC poll of September 2016 In the responses by registered Republicans only 28 agreed with the statement that Barack Obama was born in the United States Another 41 disagreed and 31 stated that they didn t know one way or the other The Birther Lie appears to have sowed doubt about the President being born in the U S and thus the legitimacy of his Presidency among nearly three quarters of registered Republicans 