By Tim Shoemaker
On April 15, thousands of activists participated in tax day rallies around the country. Here in Washington, D.C. a large rally was held on the National Mall beneath the shadow of the Washington Monument.
From Politico:
Tea party activists are divided roughly into two camps, according to a new POLITICO/TargetPoint poll: one that’s libertarian-minded and largely indifferent to hot-button values issues and another that’s culturally conservative and equally concerned about social and fiscal issues.
The poll was conducted over 5 hours during the rally and 457 respondents filled out the questionnaire. The results were generally what many of us would have expected…
The results, however, suggest a distinct fault line that runs through the tea party activist base, characterized by two wings led by the politicians who ranked highest when respondents were asked who “best exemplifies the goals of the tea party movement” – former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas), a former GOP presidential candidate.
Palin, who topped the list with 15 percent, speaks for the 43 percent of those polled expressing the distinctly conservative view that government does too much, while also saying that it needs to promote traditional values.
Paul’s thinking is reflected by an almost identical 42 percent who said government does too much but should not try to promote any particular set of values – the hallmarks of libertarians. He came in second to Palin with 12 percent.
When asked to choose from a list of candidates for president in 2012, Palin and Paul also finished one-two – with Palin at 15 percent and Paul at 14 percent.
What is somewhat surprising about the poll is this: roughly 33% of the respondents were from the Metropolitan area. For Paul to do so well in a poll conducted in D.C., you can only imagine what the results would have been at some of the other rallies held around the country.