[lbo-talk] Thoughts on the Tea Party

[brad bauerly]

SA wrote:
>Not to beat a dead horse, but - once again - these income numbers are
basically meaningless. Not only do the TP live more in the South. Not
only do they live more in rural areas. They're also *much* more likely
to be retired, which on average means lower current incomes (and lower
mortgage payments).
The only available data that give a reliable picture of overall SES are
education. And when you look at real Tea Party supporters (people who
say they follow news about the TP and strongly support it), their
education profile as a group mirrors that of households around the 80+
percentile.
SA
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Which data says that?  One poll showed that TP 'activists' were more
educated than the general public (big surprise), one showed TP supporters to
be less educated than the general public (higher in some college, lower in
college graduate and postgraduate degrees), and one showed supporters to
be more educated.  Same mix of results on retirement and age: some higher
and some lower.  You are kind of picking and choosing which results to
highlight to make your point.  Even then, if we take the results that show
the highest education levels we only get a 12% increase in college grad and
postgrad than the rest of the respondents.  How does this put the whole
group in the 80+ percentile?

Brad