THE TEA PARTY

The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009. It endorses reduced government spending, opposition to taxation in varying degrees, reduction of the national debt and federal budget deficit, and adherence to an originalist interpretation of the United States Constitution.

The name “Tea Party” is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, a protest by colonists who objected to a British tax on tea in 1773 and demonstrated by dumping British tea taken from docked ships into the harbor. Some members and commentators have referred to the Tea in “Tea Party” as an acronym for “Taxed Enough Already.”

The Tea Party movement has caucuses in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. The Tea Party movement has no central leadership, but is composed of a loose affiliation of national and local groups that determine their own platforms and agendas.

The Tea Party movement is an example of grassroots political activity, although it is not a national political party or a new political group. The Tea Party is simply an effort to reclaim traditional Republican principles, values and policies within the Republican Party. Polls show that most Tea Partiers consider themselves to be Republicans, and the movement generally supports and endorses Republican candidates.

When surveying supporters or participants of the Tea Party movement, polls have shown that they are to a very great extent more likely to be registered Republican, have a favorable opinion of the Republican Party and an unfavorable opinion of the Democratic Party. The Bloomberg National Poll of adults 18 and over showed that 40% of Tea Party supporters are 55 or older, compared with 32% of all poll respondents; 79% are white, 61% are men and 44% identify as “born-again Christians”, compared with 75% white, 48.5% men, and 34% “born-again Christians” for the general population. A Gallup poll conducted in March 2010 supports this finding. Gallup found that for other than gender, income and politics — self-described Tea Party members were demographically similar to the population as a whole.

Tea Party Patriots, a 501(c)(4) non-profit organization, with more than 1,000 affiliated groups across the nation proclaims itself to be the “Official Home of the Tea Party Movement.” To find your local group go to http://www.teapartypatriots.org/local/