Tea Party Movement Is Politically Mainstream? Not So Much.

[cal04]

http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/republican-party/tea-party-movement-is-politically-mainstream-not-so-much/


In recent days there’s been a big push underway on the right to define the Tea Party momement as politically “mainstream” and “bipartisan.” But new Gallup polling out this morning should demolish this claim once and for all. It should, but of course it won’t.

Folks pushing the idea that the Tea Party is mainstream and bipartisan are seizing on this headline from The Hill over the weekend:

Survey: Four in 10 Tea Party members are Dems or independents

Turns out, though, that this story is about a poll released last week by a Republican-leaning firm that found 57% of Tea Partiers are self-identified Republicans, 28% are independent and 13% are Dems. So yeah, 41% are either indy or Dem, with Dems making up a small majority of that group.

But a total of 85% are either Republican or independent. Given that experts say the ranks of independents are swollen these days with defectors from the GOP, these numbers suggest the Tea Party crowd tilts overwhelmingly to the right.

The new Gallup poll illustrates this even more starkly. The 28% of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters break down this way:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/127181/Tea-Partiers-Fairly-Mainstream-Demographics.aspx

(snip)
It’s true that Gallup does conclude that the Tea Party movement is mainstream — in terms of some demographics. That’s already led to some crowing on the right. But in political terms, the simple facts are unescapable: The Tea Party movement is relatively well off, tilts Republican, and is overwhelmingly white and conservative.

[notadmblnd]

1. You forgot to mention that teabaggers make up only 17% of the population

So mainstream, no. And don't change the term, they are not tea party-ers, they are tea baggers. Let them choke on what they named themselves.

[jotsy]

2. As a party, republicans have a tainted image in the eyes of the public.

I've begun to wonder if the whole tea party thing is a way for them to put distance from the damages their party has done by reinventing itself as a whole new entity. Like the re-branded Xe, changing its name from Blackwater in the hope that folks will forget how corrupt they are because they have a new name.

[Andy823]

3. Interesting

But what they don't say is how many of the teabaggers are racists, white supremists, or how many are simply crazy as hell and believe every word morons like Glen Beck says! While I am sure there are many in the movement that are simply fed up with things, I think those I listed are gaining ground and are converting many of these gullible people daily into "hate" mongers like they are. This group is not "mainstream"! I have talked with some of these morons on other boards, and they are insane to say the least. They complain about everything, and blame president Obama for "everything" that has gone wrong. They are to stupid to realize who it was that got us into this mess in the first place. We all know the hate groups are involved because our president is black, but there is also an element that are paid by corporate money to stir things up, and to try and put out the right wing BS that it's "all" Obama's fault. I really think this group is going to be a real problem for republicans because they are going to put their own candidates on the ballot in November to get rid of "any" republican they don't think is far enough right for them!

[old mark]

4. They will be more trouble for the "real" GOP-whoever is still in it-than the Democrats.

The baggers will siphon off money from the republican side which is already very low in contributions and cash on hand. The baggers will run candidates who will certainly not take votes from Democrats, but will damage republicans with little hope of actually winning any elections. One of the real keys to November is getting a lot of Democrats out to vote for Democrats. If we do that, we can really smash the GOP again and they won't have any idea what went wrong...they honestly think people want what they are selling.


mark