Tea Party-Member Rand Paul is the Republican Party

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Eric Boehlert @EricBoehlert · Apr 7
...just 23% of voters ID themselves as "Republican." (Via Pew)



Mrs_Raven ?@BexaRaven Apr 7
@EricBoehlert Amazing since the Tea Party dead-enders are pegged at 20% of the electorate. Is that all that's left in the #GOP?

[F4lconF16]

1. Dear goddess, are they really at 20%?

Sadly I can believe it. Any links, or was this just a tweet?

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2. 2013 (quick draw from my files)

link: http://www.gallup.com/poll/164648/tea-party-support-dwindles-near-record-low.aspx

Fewer Americans now describe themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement than did at the height of the movement in 2010, or even at the start of 2012. Today's 22% support nearly matches the record low found two years ago.

[F4lconF16]

3. ...

I didn't realize it was that bad.

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4. many, maybe most, Tea Partiers call themselves independents because they view

the Republican party as being too liberal.

Seriously, that's a real thing.

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5. not true

Politico:

While tea party activists have described themselves as political free agents disgusted with both parties, a new poll by Quinnipiac University shows that a majority have a close connection to the GOP.

Almost three quarters of those who identified themselves as part of the tea party movement – 74 percent – also identified themselves as Republicans or independents who lean Republican, according to the poll. Only 16 percent of tea partiers said they are Democrats or Democratic-leaning independents.

Gallup:

Tea Party Supporters Overlap Republican Base
Eight out of 10 Tea Party supporters are Republicans

Gallup 2014:

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6. you're comparing granny smith apples to honeycrisp apples.

the Pew Poll disaggregated self-identified Republicans from people who identify as independents but vote Republican.

From the Pew Poll:



23% ID as Republican, but 39% vote Republican. That's 16% of the electorate.

More crucially, it doesn't even ask about Tea Party support.

Note also from your first chart that 25% of all 'independents' still support the Tea Party. These are the Repubican leaners who don't ID as Repubicans.

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7. you're talking gibberish

...and you haven't shown that 'most' tea party members are independent. Nothing shows that, no matter how you spin these polls.

Frankly, I don't know why you're bothering to dispute it (lack of anything to back up your claims other than your weak parsing) -defending the republican party. It's disgusting.

What part of 'Eight out of 10 Tea Party supporters are Republicans' don't you get?

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8. Your anger and vitriol are misplaced.

1) the point is very simple: though the Pew poll notes there only 23% identify as Republicans, 39% answered that they voteRepublican.

2) the question then becomes--for the purposes of this thread--how much respective overlap is there between Tea party and non-Tea party Republicans and the 16% of the population that votes R but does not self-ID as R.

3). I pointed out that many Tea Partiers refrain from calling themselves Republicans, because they view the R party as corrupt, unprincipled, insufficiently militant on burning the government down. That is not a defense of Republicans, that is reflective of how batshit insane the Teahadists are.

4). One of the poll results you quoted shows 25% of independents supporting the Tea Party. That is what I am talking about--a very large number of Tea Partiers who ID as I and not R. But, you can bet they vote R.

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9. the point really is that the republican party is the tea party

...in their views, their legislation, and in their bigotry. That's borne out by their support, which comes from a sizable number of tea party supporters who vote for them.

The fact that you think you can quantify the ideology of teapartiers is a reflection of your own misunderstanding of them. They are, themselves, unprincipled and corrupted by their own bigotry which is as hypocritical and contradictory as Paul's own politics. However they identify themselves, they vote republican because there doesn't exist any number of independent candidates to make their party a reality. that's why they've co-opted the republican party, and that's why the republican party's agenda reflects theirs.

My 'anger and vitriol is a reaction to the notion that ANY aspect of the republican party or the tea party can be rationalized as separate from ANY of the bullshit they both throw around or work to impose on Americans. They are one and the same and their shrunken base of supporters will share the same special place in hell for their efforts.