Talking with the Tea Partiers

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by Gene Healy

When tens of thousands of Americans marched on Washington last month to protest President Obama's ongoing power grab, many liberals dismissed them as a horde of partisan, crypto-racist cranks.

But a new study from a prominent Democratic polling firm shows that the Tea Partiers are neither racist nor particularly partisan. What's more, they genuinely support smaller government -- and they're not going away anytime soon.

Last week, Democracy Corps, founded by Clinton vets James Carville and Stanley Greenberg, reported on a recent series of focus groups they held with GOP base voters and conservative-leaning independents.

Hard-core conservatives in the groups expressed an "apocalyptic" view of Obama's agenda not remotely shared by the swing voters. According to Carville/Greenberg, the Republican base stands "a world apart from the rest of America," and that will make it hard for the GOP leadership to appeal to mainstream voters.

Whether that's true or not, the Democracy Corps report provides valuable insight into what's motivating the Tea Party movement: "Fear of government control is at the heart of virtually all of the concerns raised by these voters about Obama's agenda."

Talking with the Tea Partiers | Gene Healy | Cato Institute: Commentary

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