- 18% of Americans identify as Tea Party supporters of those…
- 89% are White
- 58% live in the Midwest or the South
- 75% are 45 years old or older
- 73% are Conservatives
- 39% are Evangelicals
- 76% make over $50,000
- 54% are Republicans
- 63% say they get the majority of their political and current events news on television from the Fox News Channel
- 84% say the views of the Tea Party movement reflect the views of most Americans (However, Americans overall disagree: Just 25 percent say the Tea Party movement reflects their beliefs, while 36 percent say it does not)
- 30% say they believe Mr. Obama was born in another country
- 92% say that President Obama's policies are moving the country toward socialism (Compared to 52% of American)
- 93% say the economy as at least somewhat bad, and 42% say it is getting worse.
- 82% say they see illegal immigration as a serious problem
- 66% say they doubt the impact of global warming
- 40% say they oppose same-sex marriage and civil unions
So what does this tell us?
That the Tea Party is made up of white middle aged upper income conservatives. Surprise! Surprise! Surprise! As Gomer Pyle use to say.
What I do find interesting is that 84% believed the rest of America believes in the same things are they believe. Which brings up another topic, Media Matters reports that…
While discussing a recent New York Times/CBS News poll showing the demographics of tea party supporters, Fox & Friends co-host Brian Kilmeade falsely suggested that tea party supporters do not identify with either the Republican or Democratic parties.Are they living in their own little dream world?
Also consider this…
Okla. tea parties and lawmakers envision militia
Associated Press
Sean Murphy And Tim Talley
Mon Apr 12,
OKLAHOMA CITY – Frustrated by recent political setbacks, tea party leaders and some conservative members of the Oklahoma Legislature say they would like to create a new volunteer militia to help defend against what they believe are improper federal infringements on state sovereignty.
Tea party movement leaders say they've discussed the idea with several supportive lawmakers and hope to get legislation next year to recognize a new volunteer force. They say the unit would not resemble militia groups that have been raided for allegedly plotting attacks on law enforcement officers.
What is your point? Sometimes it is better to state your point rather than stating "Are they living in their own little dream world?" What beliefs of the Tea Party do you object to? Or is it just their color, gender, and where they come from?
ReplyDeleteGood point.
ReplyDeleteWhat I object to is that they all mostly white middle to upper class and they say that they speak for all Americans, but in reality, they only make up 18% of the population.
In addition, their rhetoric is to take back the Constitution and at the same time, they are carrying guns to their rallies and wanting to form militias to defend themselves from improper federal infringements on state sovereignty. To me, that is a scary combination and it is a form of intimidation. The President and the Congress we dully elected by the people, if they do not like that then vote them out office. Where was their outcry when Bush was put into office by judicial decree? Where was the outcry when Bush suspended the right of “Habeas corpus”? Where was the outcry when Bush paid tens of billion of dollars to bailout the Wall Street banks and financial institutions?
Instead, I see a bunch of angry white men who do not like the fact that we elected a black President who is trying to reform the nation and restore what J K Galbraith called the balance of business, government and labor. A President who has brought us out of a depression that the other Presidents (Bush & Clinton) got us into over the years and who wants to reestablish the checks and balances to Wall Street.
They are racists, plain and simple. A University of Washington poll found that people who think that "the U.S. government has done too much to support blacks" were 36 percent more likely to support the Tea Party than those who didn’t think so. Among whites who approve of the Tea Party, only 35 percent said they believe blacks are hard-working, only 45 percent believe blacks are intelligent, and just 41 percent believe that they’re trustworthy.
ReplyDelete--- Staci Lana
Very interesting statistics. I kind of figured the Tea Party was made up of upper-middle class white folks, mostly, though because of the pictures I've seen.
ReplyDelete