USA TODAY just published an interesting piece on the Tea Party movement. It looks like the media is finally starting to take the movement seriously.
What is the Tea Party? A growing state of mind
The "Tea Party" is less a classic political movement than a frustrated state of mind.
A year and a half after the idea of a Tea Party burst into view, three of 10 Americans describe themselves in the USA TODAY/Gallup Poll as Tea Party supporters — equal to the number who call themselves Republicans — though many of them acknowledge they aren't exactly sure what that allegiance means.
"I don't really understand it, but I like what they stand for," says Terry Rushing, 63, of Greensburg, La., who was among those surveyed. "They just support everything I'm looking for — lower taxes, less government. ... All the good things, you know."
Yeah, those are the "good things" alright. We need less of the government that caused our economic mess. See Jobless Claims and the New Great Depression.
"What we need is to push the tea over the edge of the boat, and the Tea Party is trying to do that," says Dale Jackson, 37, a school bus driver from Jefferson City, Mo., mentioning his concerns about illegal immigration and government bailouts.
Jackson's comment and the group's name hark back to the nation's revolutionary beginnings in its tax revolt against England, and the Fourth of July holiday this weekend has become a rallying cry for supporters who plan a gathering in San Antonio, a fair in suburban Atlanta and more. To look at who the foot soldiers are in the nation's newest political army and what motivates them, USA TODAY combined results from national polls in May and June and did additional interviews.
The portrait that emerges fits a traditional conservative group. The ranks of the Tea Party include somewhat more men than women, and they are more likely to be married and a bit older than the nation as a whole. Residents of the South and West are the most likely to endorse the Tea Party, but it is unmistakably a nationwide movement: 28% in the Midwest and 27% in the East call themselves backers.
It's awesome to see so many people wanting to get back to our roots of limited government and freedom. I believe freedom is a message that would resonate well with younger voters too. The Tea Party movement should reach out to them more.
A great way to reach out would be to contact groups like Campaign For Liberty, Republican Liberty Caucus, and Young Americans for Liberty.
What unites Tea Party supporters is less their geography or demography than their policy views: a firm conviction that the federal government has gotten too big and too powerful and a fear that the nation faces great peril. Nine in 10 are unhappy with the country's direction and see the federal debt as an ominous threat to its future. Almost as many say neither President Obama nor most members of Congress deserve re-election.
They are much more downbeat than those who are not Tea Party supporters, who by 21 percentage points are more satisfied with the country's direction and by a yawning 49 points are more likely to say Obama deserves re-election.
Downbeat? I'd say more like accepting reality for what it is, instead of blindly trusting political promises.
On the last big Election Day, in 2008, the Tea Party didn't exist. Now the name encompasses the most energized segment of the electorate, one that has denied members of Congress renomination, created a new constellation of political heroes and pushed the GOP to the right.
Even so, the movement is less a party than an anti-party, with no clear consensus about whom its national leaders are and a generally dyspeptic view of organized political power.
Former House Majority leader Dick Armey, who describes himself and his group FreedomWorks as "mentors" for the movement, calls the lack of a centralized structure a defining characteristic and an asset. "It is baffling to the left because it's a group of people who are not centrally organized," the former Texas congressman says, chortling. "There is nobody running the Tea Party movement."
Jim Sagray, 63, a retired high school science teacher from Roseville, Calif., and Tea Party supporter, agrees.
"I don't believe there are any real Tea Party leaders; I don't believe there's any real national leadership," he says. "It's largely just independent groups fed up with how things are going in our nation."
Armey calls them "the biggest swing movement on the field."
Not having a "leader" is what makes the Tea Party movement so strong, because nobody has to check their beliefs at the door and hold their nose in support of a politician bound to stab them in the back.
Take the time to read the whole article Yourself. It's pretty good. Tell me the narrative around Tea Parties hasn't changed in America?
Another Tea Party Poll
Yesterday, Rasmussen published a poll showing that Americans are leaning more Republican these days. While that certainly shouldn't surprise anyone (considering what a disaster the Obama administration has been), as the article above notes, people still aren't that excited about the Republican Party.
Yet Gallup published a poll today showing that "79% of Tea Party supporters consider themselves Republicans."
Gallup: Tea Party: Rebranding Republicanism
A new Gallup report finds that 79% of Tea Party supporters consider themselves Republicans and 62% consider themselves conservative Republicans. As Gallup's Frank Newport writes: "Their similar ideological makeup and views suggest that the Tea Party movement is more a rebranding of core Republicanism than a new or distinct entity on the American political scene."
Just 6% called themselves a pure independent and 15% placed themselves somewhere on the Democratic spectrum.
Polling shows Tea Partiers are just as enthusiastic about voting as conservative Republicans and 80% said they would vote for a Republican in November -- though that's lower than the 95% of conservative Republicans who plan to vote GOP.
Interesting, but not much of a shocker when you consider we're stuck (for now) in a 2-party monopoly system. I just hope Tea Partiers don't fall prey to the hive mentality and support progressive Republicans like Mike Huckabee or Mitt Romney come 2012.
Go Tea Party!
It's good that some pollsters are starting to "get" the Tea Party message. It would be better if the GOP leadership began to get it, too.
But the GOP leadership, as always, goes to whoever brings in the most money, and right now that is the people who still believe that the anti-gay and anti-abortion agendas (1) are the most important issues the Republican Party can pursue, and (2) haven't already been decided.
As long as those people control the Republican Party, the party has no future.
Making the federal government smaller -- smaller than before the New Deal! -- needs to become what the GOP is about. Or some other party, maybe the Libertarians, will and should replace the GOP in the two party system.