Republican Insanity Baseline: From 4% to 37% Depending on Measuring Tool

So, some time ago I came across the Republican Insanity Baseline for Illinois - it is somewhere around 37% as indicated in this relatively tightly argued piece:

John: Hey, Bush is now at 37% approval. I feel much less like Kevin McCarthy screaming in traffic. But I wonder what his base is --

Tyrone: 27%.

John: ... you said that immmediately, and with some authority.

Tyrone: Obama vs. Alan Keyes. Keyes was from out of state, so you can eliminate any established political base; both candidates were black, so you can factor out racism; and Keyes was plainly, obviously, completely crazy. Batshit crazy. Head-trauma crazy. But 27% of the population of Illinois voted for him. They put party identification, personal prejudice, whatever ahead of rational judgement. Hell, even like 5% of Democrats voted for him. That's crazy behaviour. I think you have to assume a 27% Crazification Factor in any population.

It is scary to reflect that, relatively, Illinois isn't even all that insane as this 9/05 ranking of Bush approval ratings suggests (Illinois comes in a respectable 35th with polygamous and nearly illiterate Utah predictably coming in first).

Now, we have an even more precise measure across the United States which I will call the "to crazy to be allowed to exercise their Second Amendment Rights" crazy. Here is a poll from Times Magazine:



Nearly killing a man by accident persuades 4% of the United States populace to view the VP more positively. Could have been a nice round 5% if he'd actually killed the guy!

Who are these wingnuts?