[lbo-talk] Thoughts on the Tea Party

brad bauerly bbauerly at gmail.com
Tue Apr 20 05:19:21 PDT 2010


Doug wrote:
>The TP is another chapter in the revolt of the haves.

Kinda depends on your definition of haves. While about 20% based on the latest poll do fall in the top quintile the majority fall in the 3/5 portion. That poll showed that 35% of TP supporters made less or about the median income of $47,000 (however TPers were more from the south than average which has a lower median income). Based on three polls- 45%, 35% and 58% of respondents fell into this catagory (the last poll is of TP activists not just supporters). So yes, above average incomes as a group. However, 20% of TP respondents in the last poll make more than $100,000 putting them in the top quintile, which is the only one to not see share of total incomes decline in constant dollars since 1975. If we add in that TPers are more likely to have single income earning households based on the poll results (9% versus 7% of respondents being homemakers), we can expect household incomes to be brought down a bit though not much. Also based on racial make up we should expect their income to be slightly higher too. Clearly they are not the worst off with only about 8% ('activists' respondents),19% and 18% based on the three polls falling into the lowest quintile, versus 25% of the general population. This roughly 18% is not the haves and it almost mirrors the 20% who make over $100,000 and are the haves. You could make the argument that it is the revolt of the have mores being led by the haves though. Definitely the white, suburban or rural ultra-conservatives revolt against a black president pushing classic Republican policies.

Brad



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