Day: February 18, 2010

There Are More Tea Party Wingnuts Than We Thought

Buck Banks

CNN/Opinion Research: About 11 percent of all Americans say they have actively supported the Tea Party movement, either by donating money, attending a rally or taking some other action in support of the movement. Of this core group of Tea Party activists, six of 10 are male and half live in rural areas.

Nearly three quarters of Tea Party activists attended college, compared to 54 percent of all Americans, and more than three in four call themselves conservatives.

The poll indicates that about 24 percent of the public generally favors the Tea Party movement but has not taken any actions such as donating money or attending a rally. Adding in the 11 percent who say they are active, a total of 35 percent could be described as Tea Party supporters. That larger group is also predominantly male, higher-income and conservative.

Some 45 percent of all Americans say they don’t know enough about the Tea Party to have a view of the movement; one in five say they oppose the Tea Party.

Verbatim

Buck Banks

Now the smart thing will be for independents who are such a part of this Tea Party movement to, I guess, kind of start picking a party. Which party reflects how that smaller, smarter government steps to be taken? Which party will best fit you? And then because the Tea Party movement is not a party, and we have a two-party system, they’re going to have to pick a party and run one or the other: ‘R’ or ‘D.’

— Sarah Palin, explaining that the Tea Party isn’t really a party while acknowledging the existence of independents.