Study of Tea Party Activists Reveals Movement's Level of Momentum

/PRNewswire -- An extensive new study of the Tea Party movement released today finds that the activists involved grew in number and enthusiasm in recent months. The Sam Adams Alliance report, The Next Wave: A Surf Report, also found that among new activists, a smaller number identify themselves as Republicans, with 50 percent choosing a different label for their political affiliation. The results of the full report can be found at www.activistinsightsreport.com.

The Next Wave report, announced at the American Legislative Exchange Council's annual conference, is the first of three reports studying Tea Party activists that will be released by Sam Adams Alliance before the November elections. Among newcomers to the movement, which the study identifies as "Next Wave" activists, 74 percent said the movement is "gaining active supporters," and 66 percent indicated that the movement is "more enthusiastic" than it was before the passage of health care reform.

"We found that Tea Party activists, above all, view themselves as both "restoring? and "forward- thinking,' which is an interesting tension as they continue to make their mark on the political landscape," said Anne Sorock, the study's research director. "They must find a way to preserve the best of what their America means while making their movement relevant to today's challenges."

The report also reveals that both Next Wave and Early Adopters are dropping their affiliation with the Republican label. Among the Next Wave activists polled, there was a near 30-point drop in their affiliation with the Republican party since becoming involved in the Tea Party movement.

Sam Adams Alliance's research shows that 47 percent changed their political affiliation to

"Independent/Unaffiliated," 20 percent changed to "Other," 20 percent to "Tea Party," and 13

percent to "Libertarian."

The report also revealed that 63.6 percent of Next Wave activists were recruited by friends, compared to only 37.5 percent of Early Adopters, who were more likely to be recruited by media personalities.

Other findings of the study include:

-- 89 percent of Tea Party activists have been recruiting new people into
the movement.
-- 44 percent of Next Wave activists said they were uninvolved or rarely
involved with politics prior to their Tea Party involvement.
-- 22 percent of Next Wave Activists identified as Independents, 10
percent as "Tea
-- Party."
-- Prior to becoming active in the movement, 74 percent of Next Wave
activists identified as Republican, 20 percent as Independent.
-- Sarah Palin was the leading choice for the 2012 presidential elections
with 23 percent, though 19 other choices were mentioned.
-- Tea Partiers have a more favorable view of the state-level Republican
party (38.7 percent unfavorable/very unfavorable) than the national
(49.2 percent unfavorable/very unfavorable)


For the full report findings, survey questions, methodology, and a preview video visit www.activistinsightsreport.com, or www.samadamsalliance.org.

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Nationwide Tea Party Leaders Call on Obama to Live up to Meeting Promise

(BUSINESS WIRE)--Eighteen national leaders of the Tea Party protest movement, which has drawn the participation of hundreds of thousands of Americans over the past few weeks, today responded to President Barack Obama’s invitation to meet with members of the Tea Party movement to discuss solutions to the nation’s fiscal challenges.

Speaking at a townhall meeting in Arnold, Missouri this past Wednesday, Obama said: “So, you know, when you see — those of you who are watching certain news channels on which I'm not very popular and you see folks waving tea bags around, let me just remind them that I am happy to have a serious conversation about how we are going to cut our health care costs down over the long term, how we're going to stabilize Social Security.”

The national leadership team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition, one of several organizations that form the grassroots ecosystem of the Tea Party movement, this afternoon faxed a letter to the White House accepting the President’s invitation for such a discussion. “The Tea Party movement has grown because millions of Americans believe the government is heading in the wrong direction and their government is not only not listening to them, but ignoring them. We need to have a serious, public discussion of these issues. We are ready to have that discussion with you and look forward to your response,” the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition leaders wrote in their letter to Obama.

“We have noticed there often appears to be a great divide between President Obama’s political rhetoric and the political reality of his policies and actions,” said Michael Johns, one of the eighteen signators of the letter. “When the President says he is ‘happy to have a serious conversation’ with us about the fiscal state of this nation, we think the next question is when and where, and we hope to have an answer to that promptly so we can present concrete, workable policy ideas,” he said.

Nationwide Tea Party Coalition leader and letter signator Dana Loesch, who led a protest of hundreds during Obama’s Missouri visit this past Wednesday, said: “We didn't stand out in the street by the hundreds at the townhall meeting simply to create sound bites and stock footage for the news circuit any more than the Sons of Liberty dumped tea into Boston Harbor to become an entry in history books." “We stood because we want to propose an alternative, and dare I say better, suggestion as to how fiscal matters should be handled. We welcome an open discussion,” she said.

The national leadership team of the Nationwide Tea Party Coalition includes 26 of the more than 900 organizers of the April 15, 2009 Tax Day Tea Parties held nationally and attended by an estimated one million Americans. The Coalition’s web site, where today’s letter to the president can be seen, is: www.nationwideteapartycoalition.com.

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