Tea Party only 1.5%

[CalHunter]

Another thread evolved into a discussion about the Tea Party and how much influence it will have or not in upcoming elections, etc. after somebody made the comment below:

The 1.5% of Americans involved in the Tea Party's are really going to sway an election.

I think the Tea Party will continue to have more influence for the following reasons (see below post from other topic). What does everybody else think?

IMHO, I would say yes and no to your statement above (see emboldened part). 1.5% of the population is not going to elect anybody but, in fairness, 1.5% of any election population could potentially sway an election if 2 politicians are running an extremely close race.

The Tea Party's strengths are somewhat unique and much more powerful than mere attendance figures show. Since the Tea Party is actually a movement instead of some official party, it benefits from being able to appeal to voters of multiple parties such as Blue-dog Democrats, fiscally responsible Republicans, constitutionalists and many Independents or Decline-to-State voters.

The reason the Tea Party has such a broad appeal is because of their simple message of more freedom, lower taxes, less spending, and a small federal government. A lot more than 1.5% of Americans agree with these core beliefs.

There are numerous polls that show a majority of our country leans center to center-right in their political thinking. Most of that leaning involves financial aspects of government, such as total government spending, government size and wanting a lower level of government taxes. People want to be free to live their own lives, make their own decisions and prosper without the government telling them what to do.

The Tea Party is successfully tapping into core beliefs of this majority group of American voters who are affiliated with many parties or have opted out of parties as Independents or Decline-to-State voters. This is JMHO but it explains why I think the Tea Party has a lot more strength than a mere 1.5% of the voting populace would indicate.

[vc1111]

Numbers always require analysis.

1.5% of Americans? That is a huge number.

Remember, only 10% of Republicans and 10% of Democrats show up with any reqularity at the polls. Presuming that the country is about 50/50 (yea, I know that's dangerous too), adding 1.5% of the population to the right side of the aisle could result in many elections being won by the right, no?

[ipscshooter]

I'd like to know what that "1.5%" represents. Is that the number of people who have actually attended tea party rallies? The tea party is not a formal organization with membership rolls. And, I would wager that FAR more than 1.5% agree with the tea party platform of lower taxes, smaller government, less spending, etc....

[Griswold]

I could sit here and rattle off the names of about 10-12 of my extended family members who have never attended a tea party rally but who agree wholeheartedly with the points of view of the tea partiers...they'll be voting accordingly this November and in 2012. And that's just from one family in one community of one state.

There's a reason the left and the media (sorry for the redundancy) try to paint the tea party as racist bigots who exist for the sole purpose of promoting hatred...it isn't unlike the conservatives who were spreading falsehoods about Obama. In either case, the lies are spread against persons who are perceived as threats.

As has already been pointed out, 1.5% of the population can have a major impact on the outcome of elections. But I suspect that the tea party's reach is currently much larger than that. If things don't change between now and November, we could be in for one of the largest midterm turnovers Congress has seen in a generation.

[ipscshooter]

Yep. The NRA, at about 4,000,000 members, is about 1.3% of the population. It would be difficult to argue that they don't influence elections.

[Doe Dumper]

If the Tea Party was really irrelevant than you would NOT see the constant attacks and mud slinging against them by the left and their minions in the MSM.

[RobertSubnet]

As was mentioned above, the TEA Party will have more influence as people:

1. Learn what they are about
2. The single issue message they have.

The TEA Party benefits from having a simple, single message. Many women agree with the republicans, except for the issue of abortion. Because that is a deal-breaker for them, they vote democrat. The TEA party does not have multiple issues they have to address and multiple groups they have to please. Groups that may have conflicting interests.

The TEA Party stands for less taxes and less government spending. They do not take a position on issues such as abortion, guns, immigration, etc. However since less taxes tends to be a republican issue, republicans are naturally drawn to the TEA party. But there is no reason why someone who is pro-abortion and someone who is pro-life could not both be in the TEA Party.

Many people do not even know that "TEA" is an acronym for Taxed Enough Already. It is not some rabid, arch-conservative splinter group as the media tries to portray them.

[bergall]

I would say that judging by the fact that NRA has 4million members at 1.3% of the population, I'll give Tea Party 'goers' that same number. At 4million member to 80million gun owners, that's 200% more than NRA members who are 'interested' in the gun rights movement. TO extrapolate that same figure, if even mildly accurate, we'd be looking at 25% of the population, voters or not. Now, I'd be the first to say that was a loooooong stretch of the imagination in assigning numbers to the Tea Party movement, but if the differential is only 10:1, then we're looking at 4million people active, with 40 MILLION interested and to some degree, ENERGIZED. It's quite possible that this November will be a bloodbath the likes of which the Marxists have never seen. The 'enemy within' purposely diminishes the affects of this movement in an attempt to cool it down. Like 'Willie Pete', it's got to burn itself out and can't be extinguished...hheeheheh