The latest Gallup poll results are in, and the president's approval ratings remain low. Right now he's hovering at 45% approval -- just a hair above his all-time-low of 44%.

In their endless quest to indict racism in America, liberals are focusing on the huge approval differential between black (91%) and white (36%) voters. If disapproving of Obama is racist, then it follows that not only is "racism" on the rise, but lots of Americans who voted for Obama have now become racists even though they weren't before. But as I've noticed before, such racism can be very fickle; during the last presidential campaign, there were at least four statistically-documented "mammoth waves of racism" during which McCain was actually ahead of Obama in the polls. And as top racism expert Frank Rich noted,

A theoretically mammoth wave of racism, incessantly anticipated by the press, could materialize in voting booths on Nov. 4.

What particularly fascinated me about the latest Gallup poll, though, was to see that there are nearly twice as many conservatives (23%) who approve of Obama as there are Republicans (12%). There's something counterintuitive about that, as according to the conventional wisdom, conservatives are more conservative than Republicans, so what's up?

Are these people being honest? I mean, is it possible for a real conservative to approve of Obama?

Or are these self-identified conservatives not real conservatives?

And how about the self-identified Republicans? Why are they less approving of Obama than the conservatives? Are they more, um "real?"

Are people more likely to lie about being conservative than about being Republican?

It's hard for me to assess total strangers, but speaking purely for myself, I have no choice but to self-identify as a Republican, simply because that is my party of choice whether I like it or not. But "conservative" is a label I tend not to use without at least adding the modifier of "libertarian," lest I cause confusion. Liberals will of course label me as a conservative because they think it's a term of derision, and I can accept it as a sort of badge of honor when it is directed against me as an attack. But if I embrace it, then the "real" conservatives will inevitably come along and tell me I am not a real conservative -- which I also must accept as another badge of honor, simply because it is directed against me as an attack. So I get all confused and the only way to sort it out my confusion is by writing blog posts.

But that does not solve my confusion over the fact that there are twice as many conservatives for Obama as there are Republicans for Obama.

Perhaps some conservatives for Obama could weigh in and clear this up.