So there is a new USA/Gallup Poll that shows that 49% of the Tea Party supporters are Republican, 43% are independents, and 8% are Democrats. What do you guys think about this? Seems to me just assuming that all of the Tea Party people are Republicans or "racist" or "redneck" is a little short-sighted:

Tea Partiers Are Fairly Mainstream in Their Demographics

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“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
-Thomas Jefferson

http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/general-welfare
http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj16n1-11.html
http://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/co....183(2003).pdf
http://www.constitution.org/lrev/cjo...ndas_thumb.pdf

I think to be fair some of that 43% are disaffected rep.s or cons. BUT that still leaves a healthy margin of real indys.....and I'd say there are some in there that are dems and didn't want to say so either.

Pelois, reid Obama are screwing themselves by letting their attack dogs trash them....

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"The captain has turned off the `No Dubbing' sign. You are free to speak any language you choose."

Bis interimitur qui suis armis perit...

Looked around a little, there is no stats on race, or tells me how many are of recent immigrant origin or immigrants. So I can't really say this proves anything regarding the "racist" part.

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"Déjeme decirle, a riesgo de parecer ridículo, que el revolucionario verdadero está guiado por grandes sentimientos de amor. Es imposible pensar en un revolucionario auténtico sin esta cualidad."

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.

They are mostly white Americans. There's the rare black person in some pictures. But mostly just FOX watch, brainwashed, angry, "I want my country back (from the Black/Muslim/Marxist/Communist/Kenyan/Not American/Socialist/Fascist President)".

They are mainstream if mainstream is Beck/Hannity/Limbaugh followers.

I don't think that's mainstream.

Mainstream is actual this - apathy. Most people really don't pay very close attention. And if FOX and Limbaugh are loud enough and get on the local news, then the apathetic hear about it. Otherwise, Americans don't really care.

They're 8% Democrat

51% of registered voters are Democrat

And we have a Dem President and Congress

Oh yeh, a real slice of Americana, it's entirely their country all right

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Alizee Jacotay, the reason god invented hips

IT'S ON YOUTUBE, IT MUST BE TRUE

I can tell you from personal observation that at least in South Florida, about 25% are Hispanic. Most of those, I'd guess are Cuban immigrants.

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I'm sick and tired of my brothers and sisters dying to preserve Americans' right to drive like assholes.

You can't say that the lack of race statistics proves racism.

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“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
-Thomas Jefferson

http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/general-welfare
http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj16n1-11.html
http://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/co....183(2003).pdf
http://www.constitution.org/lrev/cjo...ndas_thumb.pdf

Well at least they are more mainstream than Code Pink...

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“Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.”
-Thomas Jefferson

http://www.connorboyack.com/blog/general-welfare
http://www.cato.org/pubs/journal/cj16n1-11.html
http://www.law.upenn.edu/journals/co....183(2003).pdf
http://www.constitution.org/lrev/cjo...ndas_thumb.pdf

Thats hardly a benchmark the be proud of.

Just about everyone who works for a living knows that the government is put of control, even if they don't agree on what to do about it, or even realize what can be done.

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January 21, 2013: The End of an ERROR.

"Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become more corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters."
"When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic."
"The Constitution only gives people the right to pursue happiness. You have to catch it yourself."
---Benjamin Franklin

So now your claiming that the 40% of independents--and democrats within the tea party are racists---

Or are you just stating that the republicans with the tea party are all racists?---

It really doesn't get this good. Here we have the attack dogs out--(democrat politicians) trashing average, everyday Americans whom are very concerned about the Federal Government having a no-limit credit card with their kids and grandkids names on it for repayment.

Every single time one of these democrat attack dogs comes out and trashes the tea party--calling them racists, extremists--whatever they come up-- the tea party movement just gets another 100K members--LOL.

Wait, so you're saying only certain races can be racist?

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"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb discussing what's for dinner.
Liberty is a well armed lamb willing to contest the majority decision!" ~ Benjamin Franklin
"Diplomacy is the art of saying Nice Doggie! while you're looking for a rock. ~ Wynn Catlin
"There are no innocent civilians." - Gerneral Curtis Lemay. A.K.A Bombs away Lemay

Humm, not quite sure if this prove anything-first off the 40% of independents are, I guess, the sort of independents who cnserider themselves to the right of the republicans or refuse to accept that label (like many of this site). I'm quite suprised that theirs 8% democrats though...

TBH I'd prefer to see a political compass style poll so we can actually see where they are ideologically rather than party politically and also some polling on race and class as well as region. My guess is a majority are based in the red states, in the C1 and C2 income bands and white.

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I don't recall teaparty every been accused of being racist against whites. What they were being accused of, at least if I understood the op correctly, is that they are white supremacists, a specific type of racism by whites against everyone else. So if the statistics are to vindicate them of that, it would have to show a percentage of people from other race than white within the group such that it reflects the general percentage of minorities within the overall population. I do not find this stats anywhere, so any claim by op regarding them not being white supremacists, is I think, a stretch. There is no evidence to prove either way, given the statistics.

The "independents" there are most likely "libertarians", which is not the libertarians in Europe, but a special kind of minarchist, neoliberal, type of "libertarian" unique to the US.

There is no attack- If you look at the very top of this post, I have always maintained that there is no evidence to prove either way by the data provided in the op. So you cannot draw conclusions about their views on race, given this data. And so I have not.

What I said, and meant was- the lack of race statistics does not prove either racism or non-racism. There is not enough data to substantiate either conclusions, therefore the op is making a stretch when he speaks of "racism".

If you read my original, first post in this thread, that is exactly what I was saying.

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"Déjeme decirle, a riesgo de parecer ridículo, que el revolucionario verdadero está guiado por grandes sentimientos de amor. Es imposible pensar en un revolucionario auténtico sin esta cualidad."

Ernesto 'Che' Guevara.

I think it possible a goodly % are liars trying to distort public perception. Many of these people are both politically savvy and devoted, they also possibly consider any survey an invasion of their privacy and so fair game for deception they think may advance their cause.

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Alizee Jacotay, the reason god invented hips

IT'S ON YOUTUBE, IT MUST BE TRUE