[Vision2020] Crashing the Tea Party (was RE: Tea Party now unpopular)

Sat Aug 20 02:14:32 PDT 2011

If you live in Idaho, remember, your vote doesn't count unless you are an Idaho Republican Party Leader. In Idaho the name on the ballot could be "Chester the Molester" and as long as it had the (R) after it in the general election it would win. If you do vote thought, remember to punch the hell out of the chad. 

Donovan Arnold

From: Tom Hansen <thansen at moscow.com>
To: lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com>
Cc: "<vision2020 at moscow.com>" <vision2020 at moscow.com>; Donovan Arnold <donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com>
Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 7:52 PM
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Crashing the Tea Party (was RE: Tea Party now unpopular)

The ONLY poll that matters is the one in which we are all entitled (and encouraged) to participate . . . on November 6, 2012.

Seeya there.

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown

On Aug 18, 2011, at 18:40, lfalen <lfalen at turbonet.com> wrote:

> Saundra
> Polls tend to reflect the view of those doing the polling. See polls by US News, Pew, Gallup, CBS, Zogby and Rasmussen.
> A Rasmuseen poll shows that 55% think that Tea Party members are not economic terrorists. An other Rassumsen poll shows that only 20% strongly approve of Obama's policies.
> Roger
> -----Original message-----
> From: "Saundra Lund" v2020 at ssl1.fastmail.fm
> Date: Thu, 18 Aug 2011 10:49:25 -0700
> To: "'lfalen'" lfalen at turbonet.com, "'Donovan Arnold'" donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com, vision2020 at moscow.com
> Subject: Crashing the Tea Party (was RE: Tea Party now unpopular)
> 
>> Umm . . .Roger . . . before you spout off, did you even bother to read the article?!  I suspect not or else you'd know that the op-ed piece written by two well-respected (except for the anti-intellectual crowd) in their fields academics is based on actual research about national political attitudes that's been ongoing since before there even was the astroturfed Tea Party movement.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> If you want to discuss/debate the findings, have at it, but to diss the results simply because of where the op-ed piece was published is juvenile, stupid, and nothing more than a genetic fallacy.  Oh, and BTW, when I said feel free to discuss/debate the research findings, that means something more than merely sputtering, “Well, that’s not the Tea Party I know!”
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> For those interested in actually reading the op-ed piece rather than whining on because the rest of the country is finally acknowledging what some of us have known & been saying since the beginning, I present to you, in its entirety with no commercial interruptions:
>> 
>> http://tinyurl.com/campbell-and-putnam-nyt
>> 
>> August 16, 2011
>> 
>> 
>> Crashing the Tea Party
>> 
>> 
>> By DAVID E. CAMPBELL and ROBERT D. PUTNAM
>> 
>> 
>> GIVEN how much sway the Tea Party has among Republicans in Congress and those seeking the Republican presidential nomination, one might think the Tea Party is redefining mainstream American politics. 
>> 
>> But in fact the Tea Party is increasingly swimming against the tide of public opinion: among most Americans, even before the furor over the debt limit, its brand was becoming toxic. To embrace the Tea Party carries great political risk for Republicans, but perhaps not for the reason you might think. 
>> 
>> Polls show that disapproval of the Tea Party is climbing. In April 2010, a New York Times/CBS News survey found that 18 percent of Americans had an unfavorable opinion of it, 21 percent had a favorable opinion and 46 percent had not heard enough. Now, 14 months later <http://tinyurl.com/3ccjkte> , Tea Party supporters have slipped to 20 percent, while their opponents have more than doubled, to 40 percent. 
>> 
>> Of course, politicians of all stripes are not faring well among the public these days. But in data we have recently collected, the Tea Party ranks lower than any of the 23 other groups we asked about — lower than both Republicans and Democrats. It is even less popular than much maligned groups like “atheists” and “Muslims.” Interestingly, one group that approaches it in unpopularity is the Christian Right. 
>> 
>> The strange thing is that over the last five years, Americans have moved in an economically conservative direction: they are more likely to favor smaller government, to oppose redistribution of income and to favor private charities over government to aid the poor. While none of these opinions are held by a majority of Americans, the trends would seem to favor the Tea Party. So why are its negatives so high? To find out, we need to examine what kinds of people actually support it. 
>> 
>> Beginning in 2006 we interviewed a representative sample of 3,000 Americans as part of our continuing research into national political attitudes, and we returned to interview many of the same people again this summer. As a result, we can look at what people told us, long before there was a Tea Party, to predict who would become a Tea Party supporter five years later. We can also account for multiple influences simultaneously — isolating the impact of one factor while holding others constant. 
>> 
>> Our analysis casts doubt on the Tea Party’s “origin story.” Early on, Tea Partiers were often described as nonpartisan political neophytes. Actually, the Tea Party’s supporters today were highly partisan Republicans long before the Tea Party was born, and were more likely than others to have contacted government officials. In fact, past Republican affiliation is the single strongest predictor of Tea Party support today. 
>> 
>> What’s more, contrary to some accounts, the Tea Party is not a creature of the Great Recession. Many Americans have suffered in the last four years, but they are no more likely than anyone else to support the Tea Party. And while the public image of the Tea Party focuses on a desire to shrink government, concern over big government is hardly the only or even the most important predictor of Tea Party support among voters. 
>> 
>> So what do Tea Partiers have in common? They are overwhelmingly white, but even compared to other white Republicans, they had a low regard for immigrants and blacks long before Barack Obama was president, and they still do. 
>> 
>> More important, they were disproportionately social conservatives in 2006 — opposing abortion, for example — and still are today. Next to being a Republican, the strongest predictor of being a Tea Party supporter today was a desire, back in 2006, to see religion play a prominent role in politics. And Tea Partiers continue to hold these views: they seek “deeply religious” elected officials, approve of religious leaders’ engaging in politics and want religion brought into political debates. The Tea Party’s generals may say their overriding concern is a smaller government, but not their rank and file, who are more concerned about putting God in government. 
>> 
>> This inclination among the Tea Party faithful to mix religion and politics explains their support for Representative Michele Bachmann of Minnesota and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas. Their appeal to Tea Partiers lies less in what they say about the budget or taxes, and more in their overt use of religious language and imagery, including Mrs. Bachmann’s lengthy prayers at campaign stops and Mr. Perry’s prayer rally in Houston. 
>> 
>> Yet it is precisely this infusion of religion into politics that most Americans increasingly oppose. While over the last five years Americans have become slightly more conservative economically, they have swung even further in opposition to mingling religion and politics. It thus makes sense that the Tea Party ranks alongside the Christian Right in unpopularity. 
>> 
>> On everything but the size of government, Tea Party supporters are increasingly out of step with most Americans, even many Republicans. Indeed, at the opposite end of the ideological spectrum, today’s Tea Party parallels the anti-Vietnam War movement which rallied behind George S. McGovern in 1972. The McGovernite activists brought energy, but also stridency, to the Democratic Party — repelling moderate voters and damaging the Democratic brand for a generation. By embracing the Tea Party, Republicans risk repeating history. 
>> 
>> David E. Campbell, an associate professor of political science at Notre Dame, and Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard, are the authors of “American Grace: How Religion Divides and Unites Us.” 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> BTW, the book is an excellent read for those with their heads on their shoulders rather than stubbornly shoved where the sun don’t shine.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Saundra Lund
>> 
>> Moscow, ID
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.
>> 
>> ~ Edmund Burke
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: vision2020-bounces at moscow.com [mailto:vision2020-bounces at moscow.com] On Behalf Of lfalen
>> Sent: Thursday, August 18, 2011 9:37 AM
>> To: Donovan Arnold; vision2020 at moscow.com
>> Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Tea Party now unpopular
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Do not believe the hype you read in the times.
>> 
>> Roger
>> 
>> -----Original message-----
>> 
>> From: Donovan Arnold  <mailto:donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com> donovanjarnold2005 at yahoo.com
>> 
>> Date: Wed, 17 Aug 2011 21:49:20 -0700
>> 
>> To: " <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com> vision2020 at moscow.com"  <mailto:vision2020 at moscow.com> vision2020 at moscow.com
>> 
>> Subject: [Vision2020] Tea Party now unpopular
>> 
>> 
>> 
>>> Gee, gosh, couldn't really see this coming. . .
>> 
>>> 
>> 
>>> "In an op-ed article in the New York Times, Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard, and David E. Campbell, a political scientist at Notre Dame, say they have collected data indicating that the tea party is "less popular than much maligned groups like 'atheists' and 'Muslims.'"  
>> 
>>> 
>> 
>>> <http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/survey-surprising-finding-tea-party-less-popular-atheists-160220531.html> http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/survey-surprising-finding-tea-party-less-popular-atheists-160220531.html
>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> 
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