Poll: Tea Party backers wealthier, educated

[CLANG]

Source: www.nytimes.com

NEW YORK - Tea party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, tend to be Republican, white, male, and married, and their strong opposition to the Obama administration is more rooted in political ideology than anxiety about their personal economic situation, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters look like Republicans in many ways, but they hold more conservative views on a range of issues and tend to be older than Republicans generally. They are also more likely than Republicans as a whole to describe themselves as “very conservative” and President Obama as “very liberal.”

And while most Republicans say they are “dissatisfied” with Washington, Tea Party supporters are more likely to classify themselves as “angry.”
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Speculation and anecdotal evidence have often taken the place of concrete data about who supports the Tea Party movement, and the poll offers some surprising findings.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/15/us/politics/15poll.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

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Oops! I just saw this has been posted already. Nevermind...

[texastoast]

1. " tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45"

SURPRISE!!!

[CLANG]

2. What really surprised me:

"Tea party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public"
:wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf: :wtf:

[texastoast]

3. I think they lied about that

Now I have family who are well-monied, at the top of the game in their fields, and they got there by working hard, not by education. Two members in particular come to mind, and while they are savvy as to their industries, they have never studied history, can't spell particularly well, and pay others do their writing for them.

[Blue_Tires]

29. i can believe it for the financial backers and behind-the-scenes string pullers

the assclowns on TV with the signs, costumes and empty slogans are just puppets...

[saigon68]

30. their strong opposition to the Obama administration is more rooted

In Racism

[Blue_Tires]

44. very true

that too...

[ThorDem]

54. uhhh

the people that I've seen at Tea Party rallies here in Arkansas have been old, babbling incoherently, retired and poorly attired (hah, that rhymed)...if you catch my drift.

[Zoeisright]

4. Oh please. The repukes I know are stupid.

Well educated my ass. If that was a self-described group, they lied.

[Tempest]

8. This poll is like a singles ad

Where everyone lies about what they look like, how much they weigh, etc.

[O is 44]

11. I have my doubts as well since many cannot spell

as shown by their signs. And I have yet to hear one tea bagger articulate the definition of Marxism and Socialism. They have also shown that they have no grasp of history. And to top it all off they misrepresent our constitution daily.

[Igel]

33. You've confused a set with a much smaller subset.

The set of supporters is larger than the set of protesters. The protesters self-select. Some of them have atrocious spelling skills.

Moreover, not everybody among the TP protesters were TP supporters. A number of them--frequently photographed, seldom interviewed--were LaRouchites. Many on the left consider them RW, but those on the right consider them loony left. They participated with their trademark signage because they demanded a single-payer system run by the federal government--hardly a majority TP viewpoint.

In any event, the media then photograph the protesters, not making some rather important distinctions among who the protesters are, and select images to be published. Few media sources actually *like* the Tea Partiers, on the one hand. On the other, many DUers primarily use left-of-center news sources or even blogs (or what's selected for posting at DU) for their news--and that selection of images is made by people fundamentally opposed to the Tea Partiers. It's worth pointing out that in some cases 2-3 signs from a protest would be plastered all over the news, but long-range pictures would show dozens of different signs. Most of the ones not shown in close-ups were less extreme and better spelled. Still, I'd expect the protesters to be more extreme than the group of supporters as a whole.

For the story itself, it's illustrative (if anecdotal) that while they say that the TP supporters are on average a bit more well off, a older, and better educated, they quote a non-wealthy former medical transcriptionist. Probably not a person that reflects the majority characteristics. Then the second quote is essentially a repentant.

[Dean Forever]

43. So True

It's funny isn't it? Socialism this, Socialism that, every chance they get and yet if they found themselves having to actually define the term on an exam, I somehow get the feeling they would all flunk badly. I drove by a "tea party" rally today and, I'm sorry, I'm not getting "more educated" or "wealthier" at all. As I came out of the store (next to their little rally) I did hear a lot about "Europeans" (I don't think any of them have plans to holiday abroad anytime soon) and then there was a song that might have been the hick anthem of all time. It was just all so mind numbingly absurd that I found myself chuckling all the way home.

[voxpop88]

51. mendacious stretching of sheepskins & the truth

47% get info about the Tea Party from television, but...

37% said they are college grads, compared to 25% avg. U.S. pop.
33% attended "some college"

Ever since Palin was skewered by Katie Couric for not reading (newspapers OR books), Republicans and "former Republicans," are more aware that the public in general do not view them, or their representatives, as having the educational bona fides to back up their claims and complaints regarding the new "regime," and the Change(s) that are ensuing.

Apparently some percentage- this is the number I covet (I guess about 15- 20%, arrived at by haruspex & some very-involved metrics), as does anyone who really knows these folk- "stretched" the truth a tad.

Unless Bob Jones University degrees count.

[Zorra]

57. Pollster: "Did you go to college?" Teabagger: "Yep. I graguated frum the unaversaty of

Missasipee."

[Tempest]

5. Get a bunch of tea baggers together

And the last thing you're going to get out of them is the truth.

Unless the people polled went through a background check on income and education, the poll is going to be biased in this way.

[BlueIdaho]

6. Grumpy Old (white) Men.

And we needed a poll for that?

[Rozlee]

7. "Pubic Option", "Joe the Plummer", "Englesh Only", "Get a Brain, Morans"

Yeah, they're so well-educated.

[Igel]

34. I know a total of 4 "Tea Partiers."

One has her PhD in a social-sciency field and is untenured at a research university.

Another has her PhD in the life sciences; she's emerita from a research university.

A third is ABD in earth sciences.

The fourth completed a couple of years towards his BS and bailed.

Their average education exceeds Obama's, with his BA and (professional) JD. And that's ignoring "education" such as post-docs, training after awarding of the PhD or after advancement to candidacy. Such is the power of non-random samples to drive an analysis (right over the cliff).

Joe the Plummer and the "Get a Brain, Morans" guy predate the Tea Partiers.

[rpannier]

9. More proof that the number of years you went to school and where you went to school

are irrelevant

[SoapBox]

10. You'll never see the smoking MEN in the shadows...

These hillbilly crazies, that are parading around with their Nazi signs...are being
played like a cheap banjo, by the creeps in the shadows.

Too bad that they are SO dumb, that they can't see it.

...my brother-in-law is one of them...Only watches FakeNews and goes to church. Makes
him real edumacated.

[Arkana]

12. No, they're not better educated. That's a load of crap.

[Bucky]

22. This is a pretty well established trend, actually. Conservatives have more formal education

Every time a new demographic breakdown by partisan affiliation comes out, there's always some liberal denying what studies consistently find--Republicans and conservatives generally achieve higher levels of formal education. Impossible--they're all so stupid! They're bigots! Everyone on DU calls them ignorant red necks! The facts must be wrong!

But think it through logically. First off, higher levels of education generally correlate to higher levels of income. Richer people are more conservative on average because they think they're insulated from all the protections that good government affords society. Think about all those doctors, MBAs, accountants, and lawyers who just love those Bush tax cuts and didn't give a shit about the deficit or debt until Democrats got into power and kinda got their rocks off when Bush sent a lot of working class soldiers off for a vanity war in Iraq.

Secondly, don't confuse formal education with genuine smarts. There's all kinds of well educated nincompoops out there--people who have the intellectual tools to rationalize their social blinders. You see, education creates wealth, wealth creates class, and class creates social blinders. People further down the economic scale, whether smart or dumb, are simply in a weaker position when it comes to selectively ignoring which social and economic threats they would like to ignore. Furthermore, people who do achieve economic success are going to be more inclined to vote emotionally for the party that makes a big deal about protecting the privileges their success affords them. They're more likely to feel smug rather than empathetic toward those who aren't as successful.

If it's any consolation, Democrats do much better among those with graduate degrees than Republicans do. But our real demographic strength has historically been among blue collar workers, people who tend not to have any college at all including those who never finished high school. I can assure you as a teacher in a lower income community that the kids who drop out are not the dumb ones. They're the ones who are bored and antsy and maybe a little too antiauthoritarian.

Before I was a teacher I worked in market research as a data analyst and spent many hours studying peoples' economic behavior patterns, social savvy, and economic interests. Those findings on the teabaggers makes perfect sense to me. I trust this data.

[lazarus]

37. actually

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/17/in-search-of-ideologues-in-america

Libertarians are much more likely to be male (59%) and young (33% are under age 30) than are any of the other groups; they are also more numerous in western states. Liberals are far better educated than other groups (48% college graduates, compared with an overall average of 27%). By contrast, populists are less educated, with just 16% holding college degrees, and nearly half of them live in the south. They are less affluent as well: only 13% live in households with incomes of $75,000 or higher - 8 percentage points lower than the national average.

[Bucky]

38. I'm talking about Republicans and Democrats, not liberals, conservatives, and populists.

Demography is a messy science, but it's still a science. You can't carelessly blend terms like liberal with Democrat or conservative with Republican. Self monikers in the real world don't work like that.

You'll notice for instance that the liberals who are so much more educated than the norm also have a higher income than the norm. Yet Democrats, as a group, tend to have lower incomes than Republicans or independents. So the test's rendering of who is a "liberal" does not correlate to peoples' self description of being a Democratic voter.

Show me a demographic study that breaks people down by party, not ideology.

[lazarus]

40. first one I found

is exit polling from 2006.

http://www.cnn.com/ELECTION/2006/pages/results/states/US/H/00/epolls.0.html

VOTE BY EDUCATION
TOTAL Democrat Republican
No High School (3%) 64% 35%
H.S. Graduate (21%) 55% 44%
Some College (31%) 51% 47%
College Graduate (27%) 49% 49%
Postgraduate (18%) 58% 41%

College graduate was even. Post grad went to the Dems, as did the other education levels.

[totodeinhere]

58. So it looks like it's your poll versus their poll.

It's funny how we tend to cherry pick polls or studies that validate what we already believe.

You know, if you go to a conservative website you will read how stupid liberals are. If you go to a liberal site like this one, you will read how stupid conservatives are.

I wish we could get away from this tired mime. Neither side has a monopoly on either intelligence or stupidity.

[fujiyama]

45. Most exit polls I've seen for past presidential elections

showed that Bush did well among those with professional degrees (i.e. the MBA, JD, MD holder), but Democrats did better among Ph.D.s and academics.

The '08 election did show Obama winning among those with higher incomes as well and those with college educations.

Either way, I think you make some very good points. It is worth remembering that the Tea Party thing got its start by CNBC anchor. I think many have forgotten that. And while some of the protesters may not be the smartest of the bunch, the wealthier types ultimately bankroll the candidates.

[Demeter]

47. All You Really Need for a PhD Is Iron Buttocks and Private Money

unless you are studying something useful, like medicine or engineering or physical sciences.

[wisteria]

13. Yeah, the ones on the PAC Tea Bag express.

The yahoos I have seen don't appear to be any of those things mentioned except Republican.

[caseymoz]

14. So, the press push to rehabilitate the soiled TeaParty image continues.

If they're better educated, they slept through their classes, took engineering rather than economics or poli-sci, or took economics and political science from Randite hacks, who were a dime a dozen in the eighties.

If anything, this whole thing shows you could be educated (at least by our education system) and still ignorant.

I remember the '80s at the best engineering school in the midwest where they were all red-necks and those who weren't worshiped Reagan and Ayn Rand.

[cshldoc]

25. UIUC

You wouldn't be referring to UIUC would you?

[caseymoz]

32. No, UMR. nt.

[cstanleytech]

15. People, it makes sense that their rich and educated.

They are the money behind the movement after all but regardless of what name they wanna call their party keep in mind their mostly just republicans but just using a new name, thats all.

[tomm2thumbs]

16. all polls I take show me earning over a million a year...

if they are going to ask that kind of question, they are going to get that kind of answer

[enki23]

17. the article says they're "more well educated than the general public"

it also says they're overwhelmingly white, and male, and come from well-to-do backgrounds. that category itself is far, far more educated than the public at large. that statistic, as written, means nothing at fucking all.

[Igel]

35. Ah.

Somebody, finally, who recognizes that these variables aren't fully independent.

When discussing this or racial/education/economic disparity, even if what appears to be well-written reporting, this is usually overlooked and makes hash out of the conclusions.

I think "come from well-to-do backgrounds" is probably an overstatement; I take that to mean their upbringing, not their current income or wealth.

[LibDemAlways]

18. Shameful that the NY Times is trying to pass this crap off as

truth. Anyone with functioning brain cells can tell by looking at and listening to these cretins for five minutes that they are a bunch of ignorant idiots. Ridiculous.

[SpartanDem]

19. Even educated people can be ignorant

just look at GOP Congress members. I think it makes perfect sense given their actions that this group is made up of wealthier, very conservative, older white men. The poll a confirms that what many have suspected that the is group anything, but the voice of the common man. The left should be beating the TeaKlan over the head with this poll.

[saigon68]

48. Rustics----who need to come in from the rain

[LarryNM]

20. Tea Party I Got Mine You Get Yours Ideology

The Value of Everything is determined by Money and they really believe they did it on their own and thereby work against the reality of their situations. Social Darwinists. Some do well at what they do but have a narrow focus on life and are the furtherest thing from a Jeffersonian Education. What's the Matter with Kansas?

[No Elephants]

21. Is this a surprise? Tea Party backers are Republicans like Dick Armey.

See also: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4343208

[GreatGrey]

23. Well sure they think they're better educated...

Cause Palin went to 5 Colleges/Universities, and Obama just went to 3.

Remember, these are the same people that rally against their own tax cuts because they all think they are upper class.

[sunnybrook]

55. Welcome to DU

:hi:

[quaker bill]

24. As I have been saying

folks who are actually oppressed have no time or the money to spend on this foolishness.

[Javaman]

26. high education does not equal common sense. Nor does it absolve them from being selfish. nt

[DiverDave]

27. News flash:

Sky is blue...film at 11.

How much money did they spend figuring this one out?

Give me 20 bucks and I coulda told them that...sheesh

[harun]

28. Astro-turfers.

[LibertyLover]

31. If the spelling and punctuation on their signs is any indication

I'd call into question that "more well-educated" meme.

[MadBadger]

36. So They're elitists?

[BolivarianHero]

39. Better educated..

From where? Pensacola Christian? Liberty? Bob Jones (the only BJ they'll ever get)?

[David__77]

41. This makes sense of course.

It's a petty bourgeois movement at its roots. It's the small entrepreneurs, middle-men, "new rich" and similar strata that comprise the bulk of it.

[okieinpain]

42. ELITIST! hang them!..... N/T.

[FrenchieCat]

46. Well, I know they lie a lot.....

and it is easy to say you've graduated from college,
even if you haven't.

[Cass]

49. For a group of supposedly "educated" people, they sure fall for republican propaganda

easily enough. They may be educated but their critical thinking skills are nil.

Judging by what I have seen on tv about the tea party protesters, they don't seem all that bright to me. Now, the backers of the tea party group are another story altogether...they are the smart ones manipulating the others imo.

[voxpop88]

50. Mendacious Repubs in new "constitutional garb"

I'm incredulous about the amount of sheepskins betwixt those racist, tv-watchin', hypocritical, selfish (they don't believe "minorities" should benefit from subsidized health care, but want to keep their S.S., Medicare, & tax shelters), narrow-minded bigots.

They're the same war-mongering, mean-spirited Repubs of yore. I've been politically active since 18, and am almost 50. We know these folks- look how many of their reps have been exposed for their corruption. They're fibbing, and I'm calling this from the get-go. They ain't gettin' away with this whopper.

[Darth_Kitten]

52. Angry white males by another name?

I'm angry because I can be. I'm angry because I'm right. It's all about me. ME, I tell you, ME!!!

:eyes:

[Thor_MN]

53. It's a poll. They THINK they are wealthier and better educated...

They also think that they are a majority, that the founding fathers were xtians and everyone should live to the standards they want to set for you.

[ProudDad]

56. "Trained" vs. Educated

What passes for "education" today, especially in middle- and high-school, is training for obedience and eventual exploitation in the capitalist system.

When I was in those grades in the 50s and early 60s, our parents were experimenting with educating their children in critical thinking skills supposing that thinking children can learn whatever skills society needed. Of course, this education was primarily for middle and upper-middle class white children -- blacks and browns need not apply.

After the near outbreak of democracy in the middle and late 60s, the backlash returned schools to the rote, training model that held before (teach to the test)...

So much for the disastrous experiment in actual Education.

So the interesting dynamic that has "high school" and "some college" being the strongest republican-leaning group makes perfect sense. That group tends to make some money (enough to get heavily in debt for their cars and boats and houses) and they are the pristine products of the dumb-down, training process and have not been able to attend a "liberal" academic setting to have that crap rubbed off of them.