[Vision2020] For Roger: Teabaggers & Race

[Saundra Lund]

http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/article.asp?articleID=56877

 

University of Washington News

April 7, 2010 |
<http://uwnews.washington.edu/ni/categories.asp?view=byCategory#PoliticsandG
overnment> Politics and Government 
Survey finds that racial attitudes influence the tea party movement in
battleground states 


 
<http://uwnews.org/apps/uwnews/public/rss.aspx?q=uwnByAuthorID&numToShow=100
00&AuthorID=1754> Catherine O'Donnell 

		

The tea party movement has gotten much attention in recent months, but aside
from decrying big government and excessive spending, who are the supporters
and what else do they appear to believe?

A new University of Washington survey found that among whites, southerners
are 12 percent more likely to support the tea party than whites in other
parts of the U.S., and that conservatives are 28 percent more likely than
liberals to support the group. 

"The tea party is not just about politics and size of government. The data
suggests it may also be about race,"said Christopher Parker, a UW assistant
professor of political science who directed the survey.

It found that those who are racially resentful, who believe the U.S.
government has done too much to support blacks, are 36 percent more likely
to support the tea party than those who are not. 

Indeed, strong support for the tea party movement results in a 45 percent
decline in support for health care reform compared with those who oppose the
tea party. "While it's clear that the tea party in one sense is about
limited government, it's also clear from the data that people who want
limited government don't want certain services for certain kinds of people.
Those services include health care," Parker said.

He directed the Multi-State Survey of Race and Politics, a broad look at
race relations and politics in contemporary America. The survey reached
1,015 residents of Nevada, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, Georgia
and California. All were battleground states in the 2008 presidential
election with the exception of California, which was included in the survey
to represent the West Coast.

The survey found that 30 percent of respondents had never heard of the tea
party, but among those who had, 32 percent strongly approved of it. In that
group, 56 percent of Republicans strongly approved, 31 percent of
independents strongly approved and 5 percent of Democrats strongly approved.

Among whites who approved, 35 percent said they believe blacks to be
hardworking, 45 percent said they believe them intelligent and 41 percent
said they believe them trustworthy.

            Whites who disapprove of President Barack Obama, the survey
found, are 55 percent more likely to support the tea party than those who
say they approve of him. 

            "Are we in a post-racial society? Our survey indicates a
resounding no," Parker said.         

Conducted by telephone from Feb. 8 to March 15, the survey reached 494
whites, 380 blacks, 77 Latinos and 64 members of other races. The sampling
error margin is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. The Washington
Institute for the Study of Ethnicity, Race and Sexuality and the UW
Department of Political Science paid for the survey. It was conducted by the
UW's Center for Survey Research.

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