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brainiacsub -> RE: Tea Party Crashers (4/14/2010 7:51:14 PM)
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Treasure, I'll repeat: the polls show that both supporters and activists are white, older, Conservative or very Conservative, deeply religious, and Republican. This is not mainstream America. This is the the right, and some might even argue center right, but still to the right.
In all the polls and data I read - and I only picked a few polls at random to post - the main difference between the supporters and activists was socio-economic. The supporters appeared to be more representative of mainstream America demographically (age, education, wealth), but I think the one thing that keeps them from being truly mainstream is the fact that they still identified as very religious. 40+% of Americans identify as Independent primarily because they are not religious and are socially more liberal than Conservatives. Oddly, in all the polls I read, the main difference between the supporters and the activists was socio-economic and that the activists also held extreme anti-govt views. Supporters generally did not. The activists are getting all the press coverage, so no wonder "the rest of mainstream America" associates the entire Tea Party with extremism. Maybe this isn't really fair, given what I've learned by analyzing the poll data.
Another quick point - If someone were to poll me and ask me if I believe in smaller govt, reducing deficits, more fiscal responsibility, more personal responsibility - the Tea Party agenda - then I would count myself among its supporters. The problem is, I don't believe many in the Tea Party understand the nature of the problems facing the country beyond a few talking points, and they certainly have no solutions beyond partisan ideology. Most are just angry - for good reason - but anger cannot be a platform for governing (I've said this several times in other threads).
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