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Tea Leaves and Southern Politics: Explaining Tea Party Support in the Region*
Author(s) -
Hood M. V.,
Kidd Quentin,
Morris Irwin L.
Publication year - 2015
Publication title -
social science quarterly
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.482
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1540-6237
pISSN - 0038-4941
DOI - 10.1111/ssqu.12171
Subject(s) - tea party , ideology , presidential system , optimal distinctiveness theory , politics , scholarship , political science , survey data collection , political economy , demographic economics , split ticket voting , logistic regression , voting , sociology , law , economics , social psychology , psychology , medicine , statistics , mathematics
Objectives Our research assesses the distinctiveness of Tea Party adherents among mobilized Republicans in the South. Methods The data come from an interactive voice response (IVR) survey of households containing at least one Republican primary voter across nine southern states conducted approximately one month before the 2012 presidential election. We analyze the data using multivariate logistic regression. Results Unlike other scholarship, we find no evidence that racial animosity drives the movement, but we do find a strong relationship between evangelicalism and Tea Party support. We also find Tea Party adherents are older, more likely to be men, less wealthy, more ideologically conservative, and more partisan than their fellow Republicans. Conclusions Tea Party supporters in the South are likely to have a significant impact on the future of the Republican Party—both in the South, and nationally. The fact that our profile of southern Tea Party supporters does not include growing segments of the electorate does not bode well for the future development of the GOP.