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Christian Right: Inviting Cruz or Trump to Tea?
First, it is vital to understand that the Tea Party as a diverse social movement has changed over time:
Click here to view a chart illustrating this in a new window Many Tea Party activists now are carrying an ideological portfolio including:
Another factor is that the Tea Party Movement is allied with the Republican Party, but independent of it. It exists between the Republican Party in the electoral system and the US Ultra Right which is insurgent and includes autonomous armed units.
Click here to view a chart illustrating this in a new window
Here is what Abby Scher and I wrote in 2014:
Nearly half of Tea Party supporters said they were conservative Christians in polling by the Public Religion Research Institute (2011a). Two-thirds say abortion should be illegal. Fewer than 20 percent support gay marriage. Similarly, Tea Party supporters "tend to have conservative opinions not just about economic matters, but also about social issues such as abortion and same-sex marriage" (Clement and Green 2011).
Some 27 percent of registered voters "expressed agreement" with the Tea Party Movement. Tea Partiers, however, are much more likely than registered voters as a whole to say that their religion is the most important factor in determining their opinions on these social issues. And they draw disproportionate support from the ranks of white evangelical Protestants (Clement and Green 2011). The studies suggest that "most people who agree with the religious right also support the Tea Party" but that "support for the Tea Party is not synonymous with support for the religious right." Forty-six percent of Tea Party supporters "had not heard of or did not have an opinion about" the Christian Right. Yet 42 percent "said they agree with the conservative Christian movement" Protestants (Clement and Green 2011). As has been true for roughly 30 years, some 16 percent of registered voters leaving polling places say they support the Christian Right.
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Abby Scher and Chip Berlet, 2014. "The Tea Party Moment," in Nella van Dyke and David S. Meyer, eds., Understanding the Tea Party Movement, Farnham and London: Ashgate.
Clement, S. and Green, J.C. 2011. The Tea Party, Religion and Social Issues. Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, Washington DC. [Online 23 February]. Available
Christian Right: Inviting Cruz or Trump to Tea? | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
Christian Right: Inviting Cruz or Trump to Tea? | 3 comments (3 topical, 0 hidden)
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