The media has been sending out a steady message that the people who attend Tea Parties are racists from the fringe elements of the far right. However new polls out in the last two days paints quite a different picture.
Starting with a survey conducted by the Winston Group, we learn that a quarter of the Tea Party members are in fact Democrats and Independents.
The national breakdown of the Tea Party composition is 57 percent Republican, 28 percent Independent and 13 percent Democratic, according to three national polls by the Winston Group, a Republican-leaning firm that conducted the surveys on behalf of an education advocacy group. Two-thirds of the group call themselves conservative, 26 are moderate and 8 percent say they are liberal.
Next, we have Gallup with a new poll out today that shows Tea Party demographics match up with the demographics of America as a whole, including race! Take that, Keith Olbermann!
Finally, Rasmussen’s poll finds that on the issues most Americans views line up the Tea Party’s views rather than Obama’s.
On major issues, 48% of voters say that the average Tea Party member is closer to their views than President Barack Obama. The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 44% hold the opposite view and believe the president’s views are closer to their own.
Not surprisingly, Republicans overwhelmingly feel closer to the Tea Party and most Democrats say that their views are more like Obama’s. Among voters not affiliated with either major political party, 50% say they’re closer to the Tea Party while 38% side with the President.
Had the media simply attended the Tea Parties and reported responsibly, rather than trying to put out their own narrative, the data from these polls would have been known long ago. Unfortunately, as we learned from the 2008 election, the media is far more interested in shilling for the Democrats than bringing the truth to the masses.
Once the Tea Party can catch its breath after the 2010 elections, it really needs to turn its ire on the dinosaur media. The media has a lot to answer for with its irresponsible reporting.
Via: Memeorandum
Via: The Hill
Via: Gallup
Via: Rasmussen