New research indicates Tea Party largely composed of....

.....wait for it.......

.....aggrieved  "Republicans"........

Knock me over with a feather.

Media exaggerate Tea Party's sway, data suggests

Is the Tea Party movement less than the sum of its parts? That's the verdict of Politico reporters Ben Smith and Jonathan Martin, who note that the anti-spending activists spearheading Tea Party protests are not the exotic new creatures on the political landscape that many journalists take them to be.

Smith and Martin note that recent surveys charting the demographic profile of Tea Party supporters have turned up strikingly similar — and unsurprising — results. "In fact, there is a word for what poll after poll depicts as a class of largely white, middle-class, middle-aged voters who are aggrieved: Republicans."

That conclusion tracks the recent geographic breakdown of Tea Party strongholds put together by a PBS project called Patchwork Nation. That study found the highest quotient of Tea Party activists clustered in counties it characterizes as "Boom Town" regions, places that "experienced rapid growth around 2000 — and the worst part of the housing crash that followed." Here is the project's map showing where Tea Party sentiment is strongest:

Dante Chinni, who directs the Patchwork Nation project, says that its researchers "combed through online directories to find people who have registered with Tea Party organizations" in order to create the map. That sample remains far from scientific, he conceded — but it's the surest way to pinpoint "the overwhelming majority of registered members."

And the 67,000 Tea Party members Chinni identified from these databases indeed seem to square with the aggrieved Republican profile that Martin and Smith describe. The peak regions of Tea Party activism "tend to lean Republican and have been hit hard economically in recent years."

And, like the Politico team, Chinni concludes that this represents something well shy of a bold new political formation to be reckoned with; rather, he cautions that the Tea Party movement  is "probably not the force that media outlets have portrayed it as — at least not yet." The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza seconded that view, saying that any political prophet who predicts that the movement has the potential to become "a full-fledged national party ... misses the mark."

linky

I don't think the Tea Party movement is about a "new" national party.  I believe it is just a collection of frustrated Americans who want smaller federal govt, less federal spending, more emphasis on national pride, less govt intrusion, and more individual accountability and self reliance.  Basically, it is mostly composed of CONSERVATIVES.  Most conservatives have been and are members of the Republican party, so why the shock?

The Tea Party movement will have an impact on who is nominated in the various parties, mostly republican, but also on who is actually winning elections.

Why the shock soonerfan?

Because if you listen to these 'patriots' (and I use that term cautiously) they self-describe themselves as some broad-based coalition of dems - indies - repubs from all walks of life and in all stripes of colors.

In all the videos I have seen of these tea baggers, I can count 'people of color' on one hand.

How come in this 'conservative' coalition of people who want "smaller federal govt, less federal spending, more emphasis on national pride, less govt intrusion, and more individual accountability and self reliance" it is in actual fact about as racially segregated as you can imagine.

"Taxes, guns, and religion...in no particular order" .... oh...but leave out that muslim religion, thank you very much.

In other breaking news  Iran will not be celebrating Yom kippur this year.

Where did they think the tea party largely comes from?  France?

ww:

"people of color"....any color other than stark white.....or are there no conservative "people of color"?

Thank You.  Someone w/ a brain. 

Matchum, can you please list some sources that support your opinion on this movement? 

KU - Most "people of color" identify themselves by that -  "color", and because the Pres. is a lighter shade of that "color", they tend to follow his lead.

I have read accounts of conservatives who happen to be of "color", who are scorned, ridiculed and even threatened by others who are not conservatives because they aren't supporting a "brother".

There are a fair number of Black Conservatives who are participants in the Tea Party Movement

https://anotherblackconservative.blogspot.com/2010/04/black-conservatives-and-tea-party.html

I watched the Tax Day Tea Party in D.C. on C-span. Judging by the monster crowd of about 150 people, I'd have to say they are all white, middle age, slightly over weight, and they absolutely love the flag. They waved the flag at any mention of taxes. Liberty was right with taxes as far as inducing flag waving hoorahs. Mention Kenya and the patriotic crowd would erupt with  an anti Obama spasm of furious flag waving. Big flags, little flags, "don't tread on me" flags, jut a flag orgy. Michelle bachman sent the flag wavers into a frantic spasm with her trademark craziness.Whenever the constitutin was mentioned, the crowd would show their flag waving prowess. Republican Dick Armey wore a cowboy hat that brought flag wavers to their feet in a scene that reminded one of America before her liberty was stripped away by big goverment, treasonist traitors. There was no mention of paying for the war in Iraq. But they did wave their flags when the troops were mentioned. A wave of patriotic fury at the mere mention of our troops over seas. It's cheap labor, a conservative favorite.

LONG LIVE THE TEA PARTY

Highly doubt that is the reason...unlike of course you think that whites staying away from a protest rally in Harlem don't attend because they don't want to be considered "race traitors."