Tea Party suporters are mostly white males over 45, wealthier than average Americans, more conservative than other Republicans and very, very, angry, even though their kids (mostly) go to public schools, they think their taxes are “fair” and they like Social Security and Medicare. So why so irate? That’s a good question. Here’s the answer as revealed in the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.
Tea Party supporters’ fierce animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.
The overwhelming majority of supporters say Mr. Obama does not share the values most Americans live by and that he does not understand the problems of people like themselves. More than half say the policies of the administration favor the poor, and 25 percent think that the administration favors blacks over whites — compared with 11 percent of the general public.
They are more likely than the general public, and Republicans, to say that too much has been made of the problems facing black people.
I’m not saying that Tea Party supporters are selfish and dislike poor people and in particular African Americans. They said that about themselves.
