Howard Dean views Tea Party as old racists on their last legs, but Gallup Poll says otherwise

Gallup Poll says Dean is not correct (chart). Spengler has even worse news for Dean:

• Tea Party numbers are just beginning:

• Spengler: "The most important thing to know about such people is that there are more of them than ever before in American history. ...
  
• Americans now aged 45 will retire in 2030, and it is their concerns that give buoyancy to the Tea Party. "...(paras. 4 and 9)
  

1/5/11, "Howard Dean on Tea Party: 'Last Gasp of the 55-Year-Old Generation'," Weekly Standard, Michael Warren

"Speaking to reporters at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast this morning, former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Dr. Howard Dean shared his thoughts on the Tea Party.

• “I think it’s the last gasp of the 55-year-old generation,” said Dean, who was also chairman of the Democratic National Committee from 2005-2009. “Older folks have seen their life change dramatically. The country’s not the same.”

“Every morning when they see the president, they are reminded that things are totally different than they were when they were born,” he continued. “The economy, and the uncertainty of the economy fuels [the Tea Party movement], but this is the

• last gasp of a generation that has trouble with diversity.”

Dean argued that the Tea Party has a problem with the younger generations. “You all have friends of different races, different religions, and different sexual orientations, and you all date each other,” he said to hypothetical members of the “new” generation. “Well that’s not how I grew up, and that’s not how the Tea Party grew up. The Tea Party is

• almost entirely over 55 and white.
  

And the country has changed dramatically as a result of what happened in 2008.”

Dean’s characterization of the Tea Party, however, doesn’t square with the facts. In July, USA Today (Gallup Poll)* reported that

• 23 percent of the Tea Party are non-white Anglos,
  

while non-white Anglos make up roughly 25 percent of the total American population. Additionally,

• only 47 percent of the Tea Party is 55 years old and older,
• while 23 percent are under 35 years old.
  

It may be a tough pill for Dr. Dean to swallow, but it seems the Tea Party is

• actually a fair representation, demographically speaking, of the American voting public.

Dean was sure to clarify, however, that he does not think the majority of Tea Party supporters are racist or bigoted."

*Source: USA TODAY/Gallup Polls taken May 24-25 and June 11-13 (2010) of 697 Tea Party supporters (Column of statistics on left side of page)

• Reference: 7/8/10, "What is the Tea Party? A growing state of mind," USA Today, Page and Jagoda
• ####
  

9/14/10: In Der Spiegel interview, Congressman John Lewis says pretty much the same as Howard Dean about those who oppose Obama, that they know

• their race is dwindling in America:

"Der SPIEGEL: The radicalization of the right, in other words, isn't necessarily due to the US having a black president for the first time ever?

Lewis: In some quarters, it's true, people cannot get used to the idea that a person of color is president of the United States. People cannot get comfortable with the idea that so many people are coming from different parts of the world to America. In just a short time, America will be a

• minority majority, and that feeds some of the frustration."...

Reference: 9/14/10, "Interview with Congressman John Lewis: 'Pull up your pants for Barack Obama,'" Der Spiegel

Reference: 12/7/10, "Longevity gives life to the Tea Party," Asia Times, Spengler

via Weasel Zippers