Teabaggers Out Of Touch, New Study Finds

Huffington Post:

Democratic pollster Stan Greenberg and strategist James Carville have set their sights on the Republican base, exploring the conspiracy theories fueling conservatives. Their public opinion firm Democracy Corps will release a report Friday concluding that these voters are "not just critical of President Obama, but worried he is deliberately trying to deceive the American public in order to advance a secret socialist agenda." The report also found that these constituents share few views with swing voters.

From the press release:

Washington, DC. October 15, 2009. On Friday afternoon, Democracy Corps will be releasing a controversial, comprehensive report on focus groups conducted last month among conservative Republican base voters in suburban Atlanta, with parallel groups conducted among blue collar independents in suburban Cleveland. Prior to the release--at 11:00am EST this Friday, October 16--Democracy Corps' co-founders James Carville and Stan Greenberg will host a special conference call with interested media to preview the findings.

The report is based on results of two sets of focus groups held September 29-30, 2009 by Democracy Corps, along with survey data collected over the last four months. The first set of groups were held in suburban Atlanta, GA among older white, self-identified conservative Republican base voters--those that voted for both John McCain and a GOP candidate for Congress. A parallel set of groups was conducted in Cleveland, OH among older white, non-college swing voters--half of whom voted for Barack Obama and half of whom voted for John McCain last November.

The study explored the relevance of the 'race issue' among these voters and revealed they're not just critical of President Obama, but worried he is deliberately trying to deceive the American public in order to advance a secret socialist agenda. The study also explored a variety of recently media-covered including TEA parties, as well as surprising findings about how the conservative Republican base views their own party officials, the Republican Party, and conservative media pundits like Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh. These voters have a strong self-identity, are critical of the Republican Party, and share few views with the 'Macomb-County-like' swing voters in the middle.

Opinion polls have found that on health care in particular, the tea party movement does not represent the views of most Americans.