I had heard of the Tea Party previously, and I never gave them much thought; however, the 2013 government shutdown brought them front and center. Who are these people, I thought. That question led me to read this very interesting book.
Basically, the Tea Party folk are a group who believe that the real America is "a heterosexual, Christian, middle-class, (mostly) male, white country." What they see, however, is a black president (whom 90% think is Muslim), a female house speaker, gay and lesbian rights movements, among other things. To them social change is a subversion, and they fear it. When they chant "Take our country back!," these are the people they want to take it back from. They are reactionary conservatives in the sense that they fear change of any kind. Nothing must undermine their way of life notes the authors.
The authors begin by trying to ascertain the conservative nature of this group. An examination of their websites (compared with the National Review Online, a conservative site) show that 33 percent of the content is conspiratorial in nature, a 400 percent greater rate of attacks on the president, and a 600 percent greater rate of attacks on the government, thus showing a significant leaning toward reactionary conservatism. Through a Multi-State Survey of Race and Politics, the authors display many charts (these charts are difficult to read on the Kindle version) and results of many interviews with not only Tea Party folk, but also sympathizers and critics of the Tea Party as well.
According to the authors, the sympathizers of the Tea Party tend to be older, financially well off, well educated, evangelical, and mostly male. They back this claim up with much research, and the book is replete with charts and tables showing the results of various surveys. One thing I found interesting, as suggested by Skocpol and Williamson (see their book here on Amazon), is that Fox News appears to be a clearing house for Tea Party discourse; it is a means to communicate with the masses. Another thing that I found to be, can I say, perverse, is fact that the supporters tend to think that Obama has a secret, socialist, and perhaps subversive agenda. The authors also note important factors associated with supporters: race, gender, religion (primarily evangelical). Attitude orientations believed to contribute to support for the Tea Party are primarily anxiety associated with Obama, racism, social dominance, and, to a much lesser degree, ethnocentrism and authoritarianism. All of these conclusions are backed up by much statistical research, and the details of this are explained for us in the appendix.
The authors provide much detailed analysis of the Tea Party's commitment to freedom and patriotism. Here we learn how "reactionary conservatism is a predisposition motivated by the anxiety associated with the perception that real Americans are losing their country." Over 70 percent of sympathizers are very concerned that the country they know is changing too fast and for the worse. Regarding patriotism, the authors examine the differences between true believers and true skeptics, as well as between reactionary conservatives verse more moderate conservatives. Again, many charts accompany their analysis. There is more information concerning support for the DREAM Act, support for birthright citizenship, as well as immigration's effect on crime and political influence, and homophobia. We learn from the data collected by the authors just how Tea Party supporters view these things. Again the findings indicate that "Tea Party conservatives are really reactionary conservatives in disguise [...] conservatism - in its own - cannot account for Tea party supporters' attitudes."
The authors now discuss the "Obamaphobic" nature of the Tea Party supporters. They start with the Tea Party's roots back in 2007 and their subsequent "coming-out" in 2009. I remember hearing a lot of negative rhetoric in the press and elsewhere concerning the president, and I wondered where it was coming from. I learned here that the source was, in fact, the Tea Party. Some of their claims were that Obama was un-American, a secret Muslim, had no valid birth certificate, was anti-Christian, was a secret socialist or communist, yadda, yadda, yadda. Do people really believe this stuff, or are they just trying to denigrate the president? Why, in 2011, a book was even published claiming to prove Obama wasn't qualified for the presidency.
What was really shocking to me was the statistics on presidential traits and attitudes toward Obama. Concerning Obama being knowledgeable, caring about people, being moral, and a good leader, Tea Party sympathizers measured significantly less on these parameters then Tea Party skeptics. Also revealed was the lower approval of Obama as a person and, most disturbing, the percent who wished for Obama's policies to fail - an astonishing 79 percent! Only 29 percent thought the president was a Christian, and only 41 percent believed he was born in the U.S. These trends held even when comparing the Tea Partiers with other conservatives thus emphasizing the reactionary nature of the party. In the final chapter, the authors discuss Tea Party participation in nonelectoral and electoral (voting) political activity showing a clear increase in such activity by true believers in the party.
In this book, the authors have bolstered their claims about Tea Party support "to rigorous tests across several domains using multiple evidentiary sources, including historical analysis, content analysis of Tea Party websites, in-depth interviews, and a comprehensive public opinion survey." Furthermore they also make the claim that, "As social scientists, we sought to bring an objective, theory-driven, data-supported examination to the study of the Tea Party movement." I think they have accomplished their mission.
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