Tea partiers more likely to think “violent action” against the government is “justified”

A nationwide New York Times/CBS News poll released yesterday finds that a majority (53 percent) of tea party supporters are “angry about the way things are going in Washington,” most (63 percent) watch Fox News, and they are more than twice as likely (53 to 24 percent) as the general public to say they believe that the network’s commentary shows, such as those hosted by Glen Beck and Sean Hannity, are “news” rather than “entertainment.” In addition, they are significantly more likely (24 to 16 percent) to say that it is “ever justified to take violent action against the government.”

They also think—incorrectly—that most people share their views. Nearly 85 percent of tea party supporters say “the views of the people involved in the tea party movement generally reflect the views of most Americans,” while only 25 percent of the general public agrees.

The Times also created a great series of infographics about the poll.

Demographically, the poll’s results were similar to other recent polls, finding that supporters “tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45. They hold more conservative views on a range of issues than Republicans generally. They are also more likely to describe themselves as ‘very conservative’ and President Obama as ‘very liberal.’”

Though a plurality of tea party supporters blamed Congress for the current state of the economy (28 percent, versus 10 percent of America as a whole), tea party supporters still do not have a high approval rating for Obama; only 7 percent approve of the job he is doing, as compared to 50 percent of the general public. And while 40 percent of the general public disapproves of the way Obama is handling his job, 88 percent of tea party supporters disapprove.

Congress, however, got even lower ratings. While just 17 percent of the general public approves of the way Congress is handling its job, only 1 percent of tea party supporters agree.

Unsurprisingly, tea party supporters are very likely to favor a smaller government; 92 percent of tea party supporters would “rather have a smaller government providing fewer services” than “a bigger government providing more services.” Among the general public, 50 percent favor the smaller government and 37 percent the bigger government.

Tea party supporters are three times more likely than the general public that global warming doesn’t exist (15 percent of tea party supports versus 5 percent of the general public), less likely than the general public to believe that gun laws should be stricter (40 percent of the general public versus 13 percent of tea party supporters) and more likely than the general public to think that “too much has been made of the problems facing black people” (52 percent of tea party supporters versus 28 percent of the general public).

There were a few issues where tea party supports had similar responses to the general public, such as on the rate of legal immigration and that concerns over the economy are currently more concerning than social issues.

The poll, of 1,580 people nationwide including 881 tea party supporters. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus three percent for both America at large and for tea party supporters. Tea party supporters were deliberately oversampled, but “were weighted to their proper proportion of the population (about 18 percent) as determined in the February and April surveys.” This allowed the New York Times/CBS News poll to get more accurate results from the tea party supporters.