US Secret Service probes Facebook Obama murder poll

WASHINGTON - The US Secret Service is investigating an online poll published on the internet networking site Facebook, which asked if President Barack Obama should be assassinated, media reports said.

The member’s poll, titled “Should Obama be killed?” was taken down Monday, ABC television network reported.

Possible answers to the question were “yes, maybe, if he cuts my healthcare, no.”

The Secret Service started an investigation as threatening the US president is a crime.

A Facebook spokesman said the company did not know who posted the poll or who responded to it, the Los Angeles Times newspaper said. Until its removal, it had received 730 replies. The outcome of the poll was not available.

Experts have warned against increasingly aggressive rhetoric against Obama owing to the heated debate over the president’s plans to reform US health care.