Wednesday
Mar242010
Poll: Thirteen Percent Of Voters Involved With The Tea Party Movement
Wednesday, March 24, 2010 at 1:49PM
By Sofia Sanchez University of New Mexico/ Talk Radio News Service
According to a new poll released Wednesday from Quinnipiac University, 13 percent of voters consider themselves members of the Tea Party movement.
“Only 13 percent of American voters say they are part of the Tea Party Movement...which is mostly made up of those who consider themselves as Republicans,” says Peter Brown, Assistant Director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
The poll notes that 74 percent of those who consider themselves within the movement identify as Republicans.
The 13 percent could be an electoral dream for the Republicans if the Republican party decides to scoop the Tea Party movement under their tent come November.
However, if the Tea Partiers are not energized to support a Republican candidate, they could hurt the GOP by putting a Tea Party candidate in the mix, and therefore split the conservative vote in favor of Democrats.
Brown outlined further findings on the makeup of the movement, such as gender and socio-economic data.
“It’s not a regional movement as such, they are pretty representative of the country,” said Brown. “On some issues they are not representative of the country on what they think, their politics and voting behavior.”
The poll showed that the majority of the Tea Party movement is made up of women, whites, Republicans and those who voted for John McCain during the 2008 presidential election. They are also strong supporters of Sarah Palin.
Also, only 4 percent of voters making $250,000 per year consider themselves a part of the movement and 7 percent in the tea party movement are African-American.
“They are less educated but are more interested in politics than the average Joe and Jane Six-Pack and are not in a traditional sense swing voters,” said Brown.
Quinnipiac University Poll will be releasing a post Health Care bill poll later this week.
According to a new poll released Wednesday from Quinnipiac University, 13 percent of voters consider themselves members of the Tea Party movement.
“Only 13 percent of American voters say they are part of the Tea Party Movement...which is mostly made up of those who consider themselves as Republicans,” says Peter Brown, Assistant Director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.
The poll notes that 74 percent of those who consider themselves within the movement identify as Republicans.
The 13 percent could be an electoral dream for the Republicans if the Republican party decides to scoop the Tea Party movement under their tent come November.
However, if the Tea Partiers are not energized to support a Republican candidate, they could hurt the GOP by putting a Tea Party candidate in the mix, and therefore split the conservative vote in favor of Democrats.
Brown outlined further findings on the makeup of the movement, such as gender and socio-economic data.
“It’s not a regional movement as such, they are pretty representative of the country,” said Brown. “On some issues they are not representative of the country on what they think, their politics and voting behavior.”
The poll showed that the majority of the Tea Party movement is made up of women, whites, Republicans and those who voted for John McCain during the 2008 presidential election. They are also strong supporters of Sarah Palin.
Also, only 4 percent of voters making $250,000 per year consider themselves a part of the movement and 7 percent in the tea party movement are African-American.
“They are less educated but are more interested in politics than the average Joe and Jane Six-Pack and are not in a traditional sense swing voters,” said Brown.
Quinnipiac University Poll will be releasing a post Health Care bill poll later this week.
Black Tea Party Members Deny Movement Is Racist
By Sarah Mamula - Talk Radio News Service
On Wednesday, a handful of black conservative and Tea Party activists held a news conference Wednesday to dismiss allegations of racism within the right-wing movement.
“This is not a movement driven by race,” said Selena Owens, a member of the Tea Party Express. “We are not racist…[and] we will not allow those in the media or political left to censor or censure us with false and derogatory statements and smears.”
Alan Keyes, a former Ambassador and Presidential candidate, said that President Barack Obama was elected by a “virulent form of racism” and compared the President’s agenda to a slave owner’s.
“What did it mean to be a slave?” Keyes said. “Your master guaranteed your food, your clothing, your shelter and a job…that’s exactly what the Obama faction and the leftists…want to pretend all Americans should aspire to.”
Another speaker, radio talk show host Herman Cain, said that the false accusations were a liberal strategy to divide the movement and deflect attention from what he dubbed the Democrat’s “failed policies.”
“When they [Democrats] do not succeed…they resort to name calling,” said Cain.
The group harshly attacked Obama and the Democratic party by calling them elitists that had “re-enslaved America.”
President of the Black Conservative Coalition Kevin Jackson accused Obama of referring to blacks as “mongrels,” and blamed the Democratic agenda for why blacks are the leading the nation in unemployment, high school dropout, neighborhood crime and abortion rates.
When directly asked about the incident involving Rep. John Lewis (D-Ga.) allegedly being called a racial slur by a Tea Party member amid March’s health care reform vote, the speakers emphatically stressed that there was no evidence that anyone from the Tea Party movement directed a racial slur at him.
The group maintained that any evdence suggesting racism could be the result of nonmembers infiltrating the organization in order to “brand” the Tea Party as racist.