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TPM
There were new myth making headlines out of a New York Times poll that supposedly showed that tea party supporters are "better educated and wealthier" than the general population. The supposed findings were used by some journalists and tea party organizers to build up the credentials of the tea party.
But when you look at the actual poll data that the NY Times used for its story, it's clear neither the Times editors nor the reporters who wrote the story could analyze their way out of a paper bag. The claims are preposterous and further re-enforces the credentials of the newspaper that brought us Whitewater and Judith Miller's bogus front page stories on the absolute certainty of WMD in Iraq in the run up to the war.
Many in the news media and on the cable news talk shows just took the preposterous conclusions by a bunch of inept Times reporters at face value without looking at the actual results (which are available here) which paints a very different picture. In fact, supposedly according to Michelle Bachman and some silly reporting, Tea Party supporters are even "hotter" than liberals.
But the data shows that compared to the general population almost twice the number of Tea Party supporters are retired, 32% to 18%. And another interesting poll number which calls the entire validity of the Times poll and the veracity of the those polled into question, is that according to their poll data only 16% of the tea party respondents say they are on Medicare.
Since everyone becomes eligible for Medicare at 65 its hard to believe that 50% of retirees who claim to be Tea Party supporters do not have Medicare. It indicates a number of things: a willingness to lie or be deceptive on the part of the respondents, probab;y because Medicare is a government run healthcare program and indicates a lack of analytical ability on the part of the Times pollsters, reporters who wrote the story and their editors..
With this answer and the answer to other questions, there is every indication that a good number of Tea Party supporters are willing to lie to pollsters to support their agenda, which, based on based on past performance shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone with the obvious exception of the New York Times.
On religion 83% are catholic or protestant with 1% saying they are Jewish and 6-9% saying "other". With only 1% of those polled saying they are Jewish its not likely that many of the respondents in the New York Times poll are from New York, or much of the northeast or Florida, a state where an anti-healthcare Tea Party Republican was just crushed in a special election for a seat in the House of Representatives. Given the lack of polling in the northeast, the claim that Tea Party supporters are "better educated" is also suspect and further examination of the poll data supports that also not to mention what we've seen of the protestors.
Of these supposedly higher educated Tea Partiers, 1% checked the answer " I dont know", when asked the question of whether they are married, had ever been married are divorced or separated, Of the supposedly less educated general public, 0% checked "I don't know" to that question. This might begin to explain the popularity of Michelle Bachman and Fox News.
One wonders if Tea Partiers have their names and addresses sewn into their clothing when they go on protests.
To the question of ideology, 73% of Tea Party supporters describe themselves as "conservative to very conservative" . This blows another hole in the veracity of the NY Times poll and/or the truthfulness of their Tea Party respondents since every poll, every measurable educational statistic has shown that those with liberal ideologies tend to be better educated while people who describe themselves as conservative less educated in the general population.
It's not likely that has changed as far as the Tea Party movement is concerned and there is more raw data in the New York times poll to back that up.
So what it also suggests is that, like the Medicare question, Tea Partiers are likely to be less than truthful when it comes to answering certain questions.In the answer to questions about their education, "some college" drew the highest percentage. Which means what? They dropped out? Couldn't handle it? Or was that the easiest to lie about? There is more polling data to call into question the "better educated" claim as well.
As for the Times conclusion that they are "wealthier", these are the actual numbers:
25% say they make between $50,000 and $75,000 a year compared to 18% of the general population and 12% between $75k-and 100k compared to 11% of the general population.
Assuming the Tea Partiers are telling the truth which has been shown can be highly doubtful, the disparity in the $75-100,000 category is so small as to be irrelevant. And with regards to the use of the term "wealthier"( the word used by the Times), it's doubtful that anyone in the country making $50-$75,000 or $75 -$100,000 a year thinks they are wealthy.
According to the poll there is a slightly higher number than the public as a whole claiming to make over $250,000 but that number is such a small percentage of the Tea Party supporters and general population as a whole that the conclusion that Tea Party supporters are "wealthier" is beyond silly and far from the truth.
But to get back to the "better educated" claim, maybe the biggest nail in the coffin of the New York Times article, is their poll data that shows 63% of these supposedly " better educated" Tea Party supporters say their primary source of information is Fox News. It is beyond the realm of possibility that highly educated people would use Fox News as their primary source of information.
This is the same Fox News where Sean Hannity said the healthcare bill if passed, could turn U.S. doctors into terrorists because it would cut their salaries and they'd be susceptible to taking money from Al-Qaeda to commit terrorist acts. There is no supermarket tabloid in America that wouldnt be embarrassed to publish such a story. This is also the same Fox News where Glenn Beck conducting his Ding Dong School fact-denying show, told people that under the new healthcare bill they will "go to jail", ( written on his blackboard) if they don't get health insurance.
Fox News is not news for highly educated people. And what's more Fox News itself knows it.
More data proving the absurdity of Tea Party supporters being better educated are the poll numbers that show 57% have a favorable view of George W Bush, the most inept, disastrous president in U.S. history. Bush visited more catastrophies on the United States because of his incompetence and negligence than U.S president in history, from getting 3000 people killed on 911 because he dismissed terrorism as a threat until it was too late, to destroying the balanced budget, exploding the deficit, creating the worst economic disaster since the depression, and the debacle in Iraq, not to mention those who died because of his handling of Katrina.
Yes this is the president that supposedly "better educarted" Tea Party supporters give a 57% job approval rating, which says as much about who Tea Party supporters really are as it says about the New York Time ability to analyze.
It reveals the Tea Party supporters as totally partisan, somewhat fascistic and completely hypocritical since every problem they complain about was caused by Bush and the Republicans who proved to be incompetent beyond anything anyone would have thought possible.
It also explains why Tea Party supporters didn't demonstrate when Bush destroyed the balanced budget, blew a $ 5 1/2 trillion budget surplus, cut tax rates for upper 5% of the country, exploded the deficit, sent the country into an unnecessary $1 billion a day war without paying for it, caused the worst economic crisis since the Depression, and are now "angry" with Democrats over the economy. Tea Party supporters are either mindlessly partisan or they were in a six year coma for 2001-2006.
What the Times poll really reveals is that a large segment ( no one can say "all") of the Tea Party movement is what it appears to be every day on television: ignorant,dishonest, uneducated, neo fascistic, filled with moral and intellectual hypocrites (as the foul mouthed family values conservatives who made obscene calls to Bart Stupak and others proved) with no real values except a deep desire to have everyone act they way they do and believe as they do to justify themselves and their conformity.
And there is, though a minority, a definite and distinct element of raw racism motivating many as was evident not just by some clearly racist signs aimed at Obama over healthcare. but even by the Governor of Virginia who neglected to mention slavery as the cause of the Civil War in a speech honoring those who fought for the confederacy.
As the data and any real analyis shows, the conclusions the Times reporters drew from their polling data are simply preposterous. And what the Tea Party protests have shon is that more than anything, the Tea Party movement is made of a bunch of small minded conservative partians, angry that the massive failure of their ideology led to their representatives being thrown out of power. And if the American people have any sense, it will stay that way despite Republican political operatives who try and exploit their temper tantrums for their own political ends.
Comments
lol
i love how everyone wants to brand the tea party.
they are the true americans
If the best you have is a series of misspellings, grammatical errors and assumptions, perhaps you should pipe down until you are able to debate an issue rather than attack those who happen to have a different opinion than you. You're not doing Liberals any favors here. Has it ever occurred to you that people can and do retire before their 65th birthday? Are you indicating that President Clinton was less intelligent than John Dickinson because the former President comes from Arkansas and Mr. Dickinson was a Pennsylvanian? And what of the abandonment of the balanced budget? I believe that happened when Democrats regained the House of Representatives, where the budget is written. Your logic is lacking, your writing is disjointed and your ability to think on your own has been clouded by Leftist rhetoric. I am not angry with what you say. Sir, I feel sorry for you. Come here, I'll give you a hug. Don't forget your helmet and crayons.
Wow! Every problem caused by Bush and the Republicans. Do Obama and his supporters take responsibility for anything? What happened to gutsy Democratic presidents like Truman who were fond of behaving according to the maxim that the buck stops here?
If you want to see stupid, google Howard Stern or Sal in Harlem. During the elections they replaced McCain policies with Obama ones, the Obots agreed with the McCain policies THINKING they were Obama's lol !!! Then they asked about five of them if they liked Sarah Palin, Obama's pick for VP and if they thought she would do a good job. ALL agreed they liked her and she would do a great job....go figure? ROFL? Liberals have NO room to talk about ANYONE at the Tea Parties, they are the uneducated ones who cannot answer simple questions and have the misspelled signs. Ever see them on the blogs? You are lucky if you can even tell what some of them are saying !!! PALIN 2012 !!! After all, if she is VP now, surely she deserves to be President come 2012 ROFL !!!??? Just sayin'..... :)
only in America can people be so poorly informed that there are people who blame the cleanup crew for the disasters someone else created and they have come to cleanup. Viva faux news!
"But the data shows that compared to the general population almost twice the number of Tea Party supporters are retired, 32% to 18%.... only 16% of the tea party respondents say they are on Medicare...its hard to believe that 50% of retirees who claim to be Tea Party supporters do not have Medicare"
How IGNORANT! Since they are smarter and wealthier, OBVIOUSLY many of them retired earlier than 65! How complicated is that?
Yeah, everyone knows what a conservative rag the NY Times is. What an ass.
You are ok with math you then must have some trouble reading. Your link jumps to page 38 of the survey.
105. Are you currently employed - either full-time or part-time — or are you temporarily out of work, or are you not in the market for work at all? IF NOT IN MARKET FOR WORK, ASK: Are you currently retired, or not?
Retired 32% tp,
106. Are you, or is any member of your immediate family, covered by Medicare?
Yes, Self 16% tp, Yes, self and other 16% tp
16% and 16% = 32%
Now lets see if you are honorable enough to run a correction and retraction, or if you are just a race-bating, fear mongering, rabble rouser.
Good points made about the tea party people. I suspected that they are consevative republicans sore losers of the election. Most of them have not paid a dime more in income tax than they had before. They have a strong racial bias. They did not take to the streets when the Bush admin. tried and did defy the constitution. They are a group supported and created by a fake news network. They will be a minor footnote in history. the rest of us
will move on.
It's getting to be a frequent thing to find posts around the web like the OPINION piece here. It seems that since the NY Times article came out the Liberal Progressives have pushed the hate button up a notch. It really seemed to strike a sour note with them to hear that Conservatives actually think more, learn more and earn more than the uber,over-"educated" (yet still dim) Liberals who have always claimed to have all the answers. Well, now it's been proved to them that they need to take second place and let thinking Americans get on with fixing what Obama and his criminal gang are breaking.
Wow. You're helpless. A lot of the findings found in this survey were actually found in other surveys as well. How republican of you, to immediately bash liberals when the bad points of conservatives are exposed. You have no rebuttle, like the rest of the republican party, so you resort to just bashing the other side with false statements.
From,
A moderate.
If we can trust this poll and 18% of the nation would identify themselves as Tea partiers and another 39% pecent of republicans and 44% of independents haven't heard of them.
All those who voted for the Stimulus and Health Care better start working on their resumes because midterm elections only average a 38% voter turn out. I can guarantee you all 18% of tea partiers will turn out to vote and they wouldn't even need a quarter of independents and republicans to vote with the tea party to put a stop to this destruction of our country.
I do have to thank you, President Obama, for waking the country up.
When you have to prop up the NY Times as a bastion of right wing spin... you lose. The rest of your argument is a joke as well. As you said, when you turn 65, you are eligible for medicare. You do not HAVE to accept medicare. This goes hand in hand with having a good enough insurance policy to cover you. Since we are better educated, we have/had jobs that cover us thoroughly enough not to accept Medicare.
Your entire argument is asinine. The discussion is asinine. Anyone who watches television can see who votes for Progressives... it ain't exactly a picture of educated Americans getting bussed in or agitating in their Union Yes t shirts. This article is an example of over-reaching and desperation.
I'm sorry but, as liberal as I am, this article takes hyperbole to the same low I experience when I watch Glenn Beck. It seems that, no matter which side you are on, people feel that the only way to make a point, anymore, is to be vitriolic and inflammatory. It's two opposing factions of irrational extremists unwittingly apeing each other. It's base, crude, and adults should know better.
When you have to prop up the NY Times as a bastion of right wing spin... you lose. The rest of your argument is a joke as well. As you said, when you turn 65, you are eligible for medicare. You do not HAVE to accept medicare. This goes hand in hand with having a good enough insurance policy to cover you. Since we are better educated, we have/had jobs that cover us thoroughly enough not to accept Medicare.
Your entire argument is asinine. The discussion is asinine. Anyone who watches television can see who votes for Progressives... it ain't exactly a picture of educated Americans getting bussed in or agitating in their Union Yes t shirts. This article is an example of over-reaching and desperation.
"16% and 16% = 32%
Now lets see if you are honorable enough to run a correction and retraction, or if you are just a race-bating, fear mongering, rabble rouser."
That only changes the conclusion. Tea partiers are hypocrites instead of liars.
Ockham is only good for a "useful idiot".
The Tea Party is made up of stupid mediocrities; sure they may be slightly more likely to have a college degree, but how many hold degrees from prestigious institutions? They are stupid, disproportionately Southern people with an entitlement complex and a hatred of people different from them. I'll bet that they're fatter than the general population, as well.
Certain people are just mad about the impact the Tea Party is causing so they write articles denouncing them. They can't seem to stand the effect its are having against their political agenda is really what this article is about, its quite transparent.
Yes, there are people like that, but we need to counter the Tea Party movement. There is no aim to destroy the republican party, but the Tea Partiers are uneducated people, who don't even know what's going on. So, people are basically trying to counter the "stupid movement".
Copied this piece and posted it without crediting Mr. Rubin. Understandable since his name is not at the top or bottom... Hard to copy what isn't there. So Mr. Rubin you can stop sending emails threatening to sue ... here is your apology for not giving you credit. sorry.
Anyone who claims that the Tea Baggers are the "true americans" is a retard.
Although this opinion piece does stray into hyperbole, the general theme is quite correct. The Tea Party continues to demonstrate their ignorance, narcissism, hate, and dishonesty on a continued and escalating scale.
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