“Those who describe themselves as tea party supporters are in many ways indistinguishable from, and largely a subset of, Republican identifiers more generally,” concludes a Gallup analysis.
Perhaps these figures show that the demographics of the tea party are mainstream, but they reveal little about their racial attitudes, writes University of Maryland at Baltimore County political scientist Tom Schaller on the political blog Five Thirty Eight.
Data from an April University of Washington poll “paint a more complicated picture” of the tea party, according to Schaller.
This survey found that only 35 percent of tea party adherents rated African-Americans as “hard-working.” Among whites who disapprove of the tea party, the comparable figure was 55 percent.
Some 45 percent of tea partiers judged African-Americans “intelligent,” according to the University of Washington poll. By comparison, 59 percent of anti-tea party whites viewed African-Americans as intelligent.
Some conservatives believe there is a systematic attempt to demonize the tea party movement, and there is probably some truth to that, according to Schaller.
“But in the same vein, aberrant opinions espoused by tea partiers or their sympathizers should neither be ignored nor papered-over,” Schaller writes.
Nasty 'tea party'-NAACP racism feud: Who's right? - CSMonitor.com
The topic is O'Donnel, not other posters. Stay on topic.
