Interesting article in today’s NYT, “Crashing the Tea Party,” says, according to polls, disapproval of the Tea Party is increasing and, “even before the furor over the debt limit, its brand was becoming toxic.”
The authors of the article — David E. Campbell, an associate professor of political science at Notre Dame, and Robert D. Putnam, a professor of public policy at Harvard — studied extensive data going back to 2006. They report: “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.”
According to these scholars, what Americans most dislike about the Tea Party is the Tea Party’s emphasis on religion.
“Americans have become slightly more conservative economically,” these authors report, “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.”
The article says:
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.
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.
It is rather common knowledge that this is country swings from center-left to center-right. The key there being CENTER. The problem is that our only 2 viable political parties are being pulled to the far right and left by influences like the Tea Party. The Tea Party therefore is increasingly becoming a negative influence because of their very far right views and refusal to even consider compromise to solve a problem. It is even a bigger problem when the GOP leaders believe these far right views are the gerneral feeling of the population. A vocal miniority does not speak for the average American. Nor do we want them to.
Balancing the budget may be considered radical by the effete elite, but it is the right thing to do.