WASHINGTON (ABP) – A new poll suggests that, contrary to some media characterizations, the Tea Party movement has significant overlap with the Religious Right and the Republican Party.
The third biennial American Values Survey, released by the Public Religion Research Institute, shows that 47 percent of respondents who identify themselves with the Tea Party say they are also part of the Religious Right or conservative Christian movement. Narrowed down to the 81 percent of Tea Party followers who consider themselves Christian, the number is higher — 57 percent of Christian Tea Partiers consider themselves part of the Religious Right.
Robert Jones
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However, the Tea Party movement makes up a much smaller percentage of the population at 11 percent than previous conservative movements, such as the 22 percent of the overall public who identify with the Religious Right.
The poll also found that the Tea Partiers are mostly social conservatives rather than true libertarians. Sixty-three percent said abortion should be illegal in all or most cases, and only 18 percent support same-sex marriage versus 37 percent of all Americans.
And 76 percent of Tea Party-identified voters said they either identify with or lean towards the Republican Party. A full 83 percent said they were planning to vote for, or leaning toward, the Republican candidate in their congressional district in this year’s midterm elections.
However, other common media characterizations of the Tea Party movement were borne out by the statistics. For example, the group is significantly whiter than the general population — with 80 percent of Tea Partiers being non-Hispanic whites versus 69 percent of the overall population. They also are significantly more concerned about the size of government than the general public, with 83 percent of Tea Party-identified respondents saying that government has grown because it has taken over responsibilities that should be left up to individuals. Only 56 percent of the general population agreed with that sentiment.
“Our findings challenge, more than they confirm, the conventional wisdom about the religious makeup and attitudes of Americans who consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement,” said Robert Jones, the institute’s CEO.
Among other results, the survey found that support for same-sex marriage among the general population (37 percent) had increased significantly since the last American Values Survey in 2008 (from 29 percent). And a majority of respondents (54 percent) said they would be more likely to vote for a candidate who supported health-care reform.
The survey also found a significant majority (58 percent) of respondents favored immigration reform that includes a path to citizenship for undocumented immigrants who have been in the United States several years.
The poll of 3,013 adults was conducted the first two weeks of September. The margin of error is plus or minus 2 percentage points.
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Robert Marus is managing editor and Washington bureau chief for Associated Baptist Press.
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