Poll | Tea Party Supporters Express Strong View on African Americans

Alice and the Mad Hatter from Alice in WonderlandHopeTracker| Americans have lots of opinions about the Tea Party members and their supporters, but little hard empirical data drawn from scientific research. We’re reviewing what is known about the Tea Party members, based on surveys done in the last year.

University of Washington professor Christopher Parker conducted a March 2010 survey and concluded: “People who approve of the Tea Party, more than those who don’t approve, have more racist attitudes.”

The survey was conducted among 1,000 residents in six battleground states Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Nevada, North Carolina, and Ohio, as well as California, known for its diversity.

For instance, respondents were asked whether they agreed with various characterizations of different racial groups. Only 35 percent of those who strongly approve of the tea party agreed that blacks are hardworking, compared with 55 percent of those who strongly disapprove of the tea party. On whether blacks were intelligent, 45 percent of the tea-party supporters agreed, compared with 59 percent of the tea-party opponents. And on the issue of whether blacks were trustworthy, 41 percent of the tea-party supporters agreed, compared with 57 percent of the tea-party opponents.

Note: the survey includes very direct questions about President Obama, which we will highlight in a separate post, along with general comments about how we interpret the race-related data in the University of Washington study.

The Washington survey explored attitudes versus more general demographics in a March 2010 Gallup survey, in which the Tea Party members were closely aligned with the US population, except for skewing slightly male 55/45.

The Gallup poll contradicts the Quinnipiac University poll also from March 2010, which reversed the Tea Party gender composition to 55/45 women to men.  One wonders if any erosion in Sarah Palin’s influence will impact gender composition in the Tea Party.

Of note in the attitudinal questions from the University of Washington poll, 69% of the Tea Party ‘true believers’ favored allowing homosexuals to serve in the military. On the subject of gay and lesbian adoption, only 35% agreed. A surprising 62% say they favor laws to protect homosexuals against job discrimination, which is interesting with 60% of Tea Party true believers saying that America has gone too far in insuring equal rights generally.

Tea Party members are deeply divided on matters of social policy, with as many being conservative libertarians supporting pro-choice women’s rights as social conservatives wanting to take them away.

This section of Professor Parker’s survey deals with general questions about equality and individual rights.

Here is the Gallup poll from March 26-28 2010.

Given the Republican males assault on women, I would like to know the attitudes of the Tea Party people about women. Below, one graph from the Gallup poll.  Anne

 original tip via Newsweek