This is about the 469th MSM story that I've seen this week vilifying the Tea Party activists. I would think that this poll might have some credibility but studying the source (NYT/ cBS) I'm sure that the "3,000 Americans" surveyed were vetted to the nth degree for their membership in the ACLU, whether or not they go to church, and how they 'feel' about
fill in the blank (as opposed to what they think). The writers seemed baffled that Americans seem to be leaning towards smaller, limited government; seem to oppose redistribution of wealth; and seem to favor private charities over big government to assist the poor (
the very core principles of the Tea Party movement) and yet they carry such a visceral hatred of that same movement. How could this have happened?
Perhaps the folk at NYT/cBS need to examine their polling methodology.
Of course, not surprisingly, the EEEE-VIL
Christian Right are hated just as much as the Tea Partiers.
Here are some excerpts from teh NYT, all emphasis is my own:
Crashing the Tea Party
By DAVID E. CAMPBELL and ROBERT D. PUTNAM
{16 Aug 2011}
...
{T}he Tea Party is increasingly swimming against the tide of public opinion: among most Americans, even before the furor over the debt limit, its brand was becoming toxic. To embrace the Tea Party carries great political risk for Republicans, but perhaps not for the reason you might think.
Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later, Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent.
...
{T}he Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right.
The strange thing is that over the last five years, Americans have moved in an economically conservative direction: they are more likely to favor smaller government, to oppose redistribution of income and to favor private charities over government to aid the poor. While none of these opinions are held by a majority of Americans, the trends would seem to favor the Tea Party.
...
Beginning in 2006 we interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 Americans as part of our continuing research into national political attitudes, and we returned to interview many of the same people again this summer. As a result, we can look at what people told us, long before there was a Tea Party,
...
what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do.
More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today.
...
Tea Partiers...seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government.
...
Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity.
On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans.
...
Full story:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/17/opinion/crashing-the-tea-party.html?_r=1
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