On 2/24/2011 11:48 AM, Doug Henwood wrote:
> For the tenth time, we learn that they're right wing:
>
> http://www.pewforum.org/Politics-and-Elections/Tea-Party-and-Religion.aspx
But does anyone still think the TP are "reachable"?
By the way, I have a methodological beef with this poll and others like it. Its definition of "tea party" is anyone who "agrees" or "strongly agrees" with the TP, which comes to 24% of the sample. That's too many - at least if it's supposed to be representative of the activists who go to rallies and attend meetings. It comes to two-thirds of the total number of Republicans in the sample -- more than 90% of Republicans if leaners are excluded. In other words, if you define TP that way it basically just equals Republican.
By the way, my dad did a story in Indiana recently and he decided to cover a TP meeting. A TP leader in Indianapolis had decided to try to get a local group going in some suburban county in another city. After a single announcement, they got 75 total strangers to show up for a meeting at the public library in this suburb on a cold weekday night.
SA