Who are the Tea Partiers?

The Sam Adams Alliance has a new report out presenting findings from a survey of 50 “tea party movement” leaders. Among the more interesting findings

• 46.9 percent were uninvolved or rarely involved with politics prior to 2009
• 91.5 percent are on Facebook, 80.9 percent of the organizers have a website for their organization, and 59.6 percent are on Twitter
• 85.7 percent said “No” when asked if they were in favor of moving in the direction of a Third Party
• 91.7 percent said “budget” is “very important,” followed by the “economy” at 85.4 percent, and “defense” at 79.6 percent

The was also a recent CNN survey which asked about tea party involvement (see page 5). Not surprisingly, participants in tea party events were more likely to be Conservative, Republican or Independent, from rural areas, and from the Midwest or West than the full survey respondents. Somewhat surprisingly – at least if you follow the MSNBC/NPR talking points that tea partiers are a bunch of dumb hicks – they are, on average, higher income, more educated, and younger than the non-teapartiers.