New polling data examines the demographics and political philosophy behind the Tea Party Movement
WASHINGTON DC (April 1, 2010) — Tea Party activists may be ardent supporters of economic conservatism but are similar to the overall electorate when it comes to economic priorities, according to the findings of a new report released by The Winston Group today on the political movement.
In one of the most extensive looks to date at just who Tea Party activists are, how they think, and the ideas that matter to them, the report found that 17% of the people polled considered themselves “part of the Tea Party movement” and more than four in ten Tea Party members said they were either Independents or Democrats.
In three national surveys, done for New Models from December 2009 through February 2010, 57% of Tea Party members called themselves Republicans, another 28% said they were Independents, and 13% were Democrats. Two-thirds of Tea Party members identify as conservatives but 26% say they are moderate and 8% described themselves as liberal
The study also found Tea Party members are more likely to be male by a 56-44% margin, slightly older than the electorate as a whole and middle income earners. When it comes to issues, the research found that Tea Party activists espouse a strong economic conservatism.
According to David Winston, president of The Winston Group,
“Our research shows that Tea Party activists’ top concern – economy and jobs — mirrors the majority of voters in the country.”
In the February 2010 New Models study, 36% of Tea Party members name the economy and jobs as their top issue with national deficit and spending close behind at 21% — over twice as high as the overall electorate. However, when given the choice in the January survey, Tea Party members favored “reducing unemployment to 5%” over balancing the budget 63-32%, which closely reflects the overall electorate (64-32%).
While Tea Party members prioritize job creation over deficit spending and tax issues, they value economically conservative policies because they view them as a means to reducing unemployment and improving the economy. Over 4 out of 5 Tea Party members (85%) say tax cuts for small business will create more jobs than increased government spending on infrastructure while the overall electorate prefers tax cuts by a more modest 61-31% margin.
April 1st, 2010 at 4:26 pm
[...] Winston Group released a new study of the attitudes of Tea Party members: In one of the most extensive looks to date at just who Tea [...]
April 1st, 2010 at 9:20 pm
[...] by spending too much of it on a movement that’s principally motivated by honest-to-goodness concerns about statism, but by now that’s like trying to “explain” to Pavlov’s dog that he [...]
April 1st, 2010 at 10:14 pm
[...] of racism is 'man,you don't win politically by picking a fight with the American people…. In one of the most extensive looks to date at just who Tea Party activists are, how they think, and the ideas that matter to them, the report [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 9:42 am
[...] and are they just using taxes and health-care to obscure the real reasons for their anger? Survey says no: Tea Party activists may be ardent supporters of economic conservatism but are similar to the [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:22 am
[...] The latest poll, from the Winston Group and conducted before passage of the abominable health care reform bill, purports to show that the most important drivers of the Tea Party movement are jobs and the economy: [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:19 am
[...] Another study of Tea Party activists; not so radical after all [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 11:34 am
[...] idea/movement/self-identification grows, the more it will end up seeming like America itself. See these interesting poll results from the Winston Group, which polled 1,000 registered voters from December to February and found [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:33 pm
[...] fellow of the Heritage Foundation and who also worked for Newt Gingrich, has released a “new report” that purports to examine the composition and motivation of the Tea Party [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 5:04 pm
[...] April 2, 2010 tags: Tea Party, worldview by Jim Fister The Winston Group has published a survey of Tea Party-goers. I’m still reading through the report, but I have yet to see “raving lunatics” [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 5:33 pm
[...] Read more from The Winston Group [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:00 pm
[...] The Winston Group: Behind the Headlines: What’s driving the Tea Party Movement? [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 7:26 pm
[...] Study results are in: Tea Party movement is pretty much like rest of America HT @michaeljohns [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 8:30 pm
[...] The Winston Group » Behind the Headlines: What’s driving the Tea Party Movement?. [...]
April 2nd, 2010 at 10:11 pm
[...] Winston Group | Behind the Headlines: What’s driving the Tea Party Movement? Who They [...]
April 3rd, 2010 at 4:00 am
[...] idea/movement/self-identification grows, the more it will end up seeming like America itself. See these interesting poll results from the Winston Group, which polled 1,000 registered voters from December to February and found [...]
April 3rd, 2010 at 8:35 am
[...] whole report is here. FrumForum went through the report and identified five other noticeable points from the survey, and [...]
April 4th, 2010 at 1:09 am
[...] grossly misinformed. The survey was conducted by the Conservative leaning poll and strategy firm, The Winston Group. The survey also confirms our assumptions that the Tea Party consists predominantly of older, white, [...]
April 4th, 2010 at 10:13 am
[...] trying to do and what right-wing conservative bloggers have been trying to do since the release of a survey from the Winston Group ( the pdfs contain a detailed analysis) is add some legitimacy to the tea nut movement by sighting the participation of a few Democrats. [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 3:52 am
[...] The Winston Group conducted three studies from December 2009 through February 2010 and fond that while 57% of the Tea Partiers are indeed Republicans, 28% consider themselves independent and 13% consider themselves democrats. [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 4:48 am
[...] The Winston Group conducted three studies from December 2009 through February 2010 and fond that while 57% of the Tea Partiers are indeed Republicans, 28% consider themselves independent and 13% consider themselves democrats. [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 9:20 am
[...] findings (which you can read here) painted a picture of a Tea Party movement far broader and less homogenous that may have been [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 1:12 pm
[...] Gallup’s survey comes on the heals of another set of numbers published by the Winston group which also sparked headline from a number of major outlets. The Hill is carrying the Winston [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 2:11 pm
[...] majority of over 60% or more. However, a Republican polling outfit called the Winston Group is out with some poll results that should, but won’t, change that [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
[...] The Winston Group, one of the groups who conducted the survey tells us, “Our research shows that Tea Party activists’ top concern – economy and jobs — mirrors the majority of voters in the country.” [...]
April 5th, 2010 at 11:20 pm
[...] the Tea Party also identify as either Independents or Democrats, according to a recently released, comprehensive survey. Yet the Tea Party's priority appears to be fiscal conservatism, and the group by large margins [...]
April 6th, 2010 at 1:02 pm
[...] media would have us believe that the resistance is only a ‘Republican scheme’, but a new report by The Winston Group suggests that 40% of those in alignment with the TEA Parties also identify themselves as Democrats [...]
April 6th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
[...] to this comprehensive study, the average Tea Party member is more likely to be male, slightly older, middle income, and they [...]
April 6th, 2010 at 8:33 pm
[...] http://winstongroup.net/2010/04/01/behind-the-headlines-whats-driving-the-tea-party-movement/ [...]
April 7th, 2010 at 2:40 am
[...] are two ways that one can read the Winston Group poll on the political orientation of those who consider themselves a part of the tea-party [...]
April 7th, 2010 at 11:12 am
[...] separate survey by the Winston Group, which is a Republican-leaning firm, poll data found that four in ten of Tea Party members said [...]
April 7th, 2010 at 5:00 pm
[...] } There are two ways that one can read the Winston Group poll on the political orientation of those who consider themselves a part of the tea-party [...]
April 9th, 2010 at 11:09 am
[...] Republican pollster David Winston found that a plurality of Tea Party “members” said the economy and jobs are their top concerns, ahead of the deficit and spending issues that are the Tea Party signature. Tea Party loyalists, by two to one, favored reducing unemployment over balancing the budget. [...]
April 11th, 2010 at 10:11 am
[...] media would have us believe that the resistance is only a ‘Republican scheme’, but a new report by The Winston Group suggests that 40% of those in alignment with the TEA Parties also identify themselves as Democrats [...]
April 11th, 2010 at 10:15 am
[...] and far Right thinks tanks with the same check books. The recent Gallop poll and to some extent the survey by the Winston Group tried to emphasize one thing above all else – tea bags are mainstream – see there are [...]
April 12th, 2010 at 4:11 pm
[...] Republican pollster David Winston found that a plurality of Tea Party “members” said the economy and jobs are their top concerns, ahead of the deficit and spending issues that are the Tea Party signature. Tea Party loyalists, by two to one, favored reducing unemployment over balancing the budget. [...]
April 12th, 2010 at 5:56 pm
[...] to this article, tea party folks put a lot more importance on employment and the economy than they do reducing the [...]
April 13th, 2010 at 7:40 pm
[...] by brvanlanen on April 13, 2010 There was an interesting article recently regarding the Tea Party movement and what’s driving [...]
April 16th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
[...] a misreading of the results. It seems in this case that it was the latter. In fact, if we look at the Winston Group results we see that just 13% of Tea Partiers identify as Democrats in their [...]
April 16th, 2010 at 5:50 pm
[...] Walker | April 16, 2010 We've seen two serious surveys of Tea Party opinion recently, one from the Winston Group and one from CBS and The New York Times. They certainly aren't the last word [...]
April 16th, 2010 at 7:12 pm
[...] Party movement has not been diminished but, in fact, has grown stronger. The Winston Group found, in three national surveys conducted from December through February and published April 1, that the Tea Party movement is [...]
April 17th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
[...] seen two serious surveysof Tea Party opinion recently, one from the Winston Group and onefrom CBS and The New York Times. They certainly aren’t thelast [...]
April 21st, 2010 at 3:22 pm
[...] a misreading of the results. It seems in this case that it was the latter. In fact, if we look at the Winston Group results we see that just 13% of Tea Partiers identify as Democrats in their [...]
May 3rd, 2010 at 4:18 am
[...] Party movement. There has been some interesting research done on the Tea Party movement (see the Winston Group’s polling as well as TargetPoint’s recent “exit poll” from a rally), but, to a large extent, we’re [...]
May 15th, 2010 at 6:36 pm
[...] New polling data examines the demographics and political philosophy behind the Tea Party Movement – David Winston, The Winston Group [...]
May 26th, 2010 at 9:58 am
[...] that 24% of likely voters identify as members of the "Tea Party Movement." An analysis by the Winston Group puts this number at [...]
May 27th, 2010 at 10:59 am
[...] 15. Read Arnold Kling on the Tea Party at http://econlog.econlib.org, and read this memo of the Winston Group: http://winstongroup.net/2010/04/01/behind-the-headlines-whats-driving-the-tea-party-movement/ [...]
June 29th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
[...] the Tea Party also identify as either Independents or Democrats, according to a recently released, comprehensive survey…. (CBS) "The man who does not read good books is no better than the man who can't." ~ Mark [...]
July 14th, 2010 at 2:22 pm
[...] April, a Winston survey shocked many when it found that four out of ten tea party adherents are not Republicans, but [...]
July 19th, 2010 at 2:33 pm
[...] [...]
July 20th, 2010 at 6:31 am
[...] scientists point to these same frustrations as a factor in the rise of the Tea Party Movement. Winston Group conducted three studies from December 2009 through February 2010 and found that while 57% of the Tea [...]