PT Insights

Oct
28

With the Tea Party, motivated supporters could mean motivated voters

Eric Hoffman

The PoliPulse snapshot into the online conversation around the Tea Party movement offers some interesting insights into both the motivations of the grassroots movement as well as the polarization it is stirring.

Motivation
Days away from an election, pollsters and campaigns are asking how motivated will voters self-identified as Tea Partiers be? The PoliPulse snapshot indicates the answer is very motivated. A full 41 percent of the Tea Party conversation are anti-Obama (11 percent), protesting Democrats (17 percent) or protesting taxes or government (13 percent). Having more than four in 10 conversations, especially among members of loose-knit organizations, unified around essentially the same message — a protest against incumbent Democrats — points to cohesion. And cohesion among voting blocs typically leads to large turn-out numbers.

Polarization
There has been a significant amount of news coverage around racist acts at Tea Party rallies. The online dialogue gives some depth to how this coverage has seeped into the public’s consciousness. Of all the rationale given by those who say they oppose the Tea Party, one-fifth of the discussion says the Tea Party is about racism and hate. Interestingly, 9 percent of the online chatter seems to try to push back against that notion with a declaration that they aren’t racists. Any way you slice it, having 24 percent of the entire online conversation center on racism is strikingly high.

The contrasts in the online dialogue around tea parties are stark. Those supporting the Tea Party indicate they are protesting Democrats and government while many of those opposing it say it’s rooted in racism.

We clearly are witnessing a “Mad as Hell” electorate.