The “Tea Party” movement continues to garner attention, supporting assumptions that they are “very ticked-off people” who are prepared to vote in droves in November, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. However, the poll also notes a “growing energy” among historically underrepresented Latino and black voters.
The poll found that 71% of Republicans identify as Tea Party supporters and they make up one-third of the voters most likely to cast ballots in the midterm elections.
“These are essentially conservative Republicans who are very ticked-off people,” Republican pollster Bill McInturff told WSJ. McInturff conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart, who said the Tea Party movement “isn’t a small little segment, but it is a huge part of what’s driving 2010.”
According to the WSJ/NBC News poll findings: “Seven in 10 adults felt the country remains in recession. And among people who said the recession had a major impact on them and their family, more said they preferred a GOP-controlled Congress to a Democratic-run Congress. One in four adults thought the economy would get worse over the next 12 months. Of that group, two-thirds were people with an affinity for the tea-party movement.”
However, the Wall Street Journal reports, “the survey also found growing energy among some core Democratic voting blocs, such as African-Americans and Hispanics—a tightening that is common as an election draws closer, according to pollsters.” And these voters have a different view of the government.
According to an unrelated Project Vote poll of low-income, minority, and young voters on their views on public and government spending, all three groups substantially increased their share of the electorate in 2008, now making up a third of the U.S. electorate. These voters, who outnumber the typically white, wealthier, and conservative Tea Party supporters, also differ on their views of economic issues. According to the poll:
- Strong majorities of black voters (71%), young voters (59%), and low-income voters (60.5%) agree that government should work to provide for the needs of all citizens. Fifty percent of all voters agree with that sentiment. Only 20% of Tea Party sympathizers agree.
- Whereas a majority of all voters (58%) support spending the same or more on income support programs such as Food Stamps for less well-off Americans, stronger majorities of black voters (74%), young voters (68%), and low-income voters (75%) support spending the same or more. Only 33% of Tea party sympathizers share that view.
“Hopefully, it will just help both parties understand that people are more or less frustrated and they want to know where politicians are on issues,”said WSJ/NBC News poll respondent, Scott Gonzalez, a 33-year-old Republican from Aurora, Ill..