Ramona Elder
Mr. Neal
American Government
How does the tea party affect the voting rights of people?

The Tea Party is a grassroots movement that calls awareness to any issue that challenges the security, sovereignty, or domestic tranquility of our beloved nation, the United States of America. From our founding, The Tea Party represents the voice of the true owners of the United States: WE THE PEOPLE. Many are credited to be founders of this movement; however, it was the brave souls of the men and women in 1773, known today as the Boston Tea Party, who dared to defy the greatest military might on earth. We are the beneficiaries of their courage.
The Tea Party includes those who possess a strong belief in the foundational Judeo-Christian values embedded in our great founding documents. We believe that the responsibility of our beloved nation is entrenched within the hearts of true American Patriots from every race, religion, national origin, and walk of life who share a common belief in the values which made and keep our beloved nation great.
We stand by the Constitution as inherently conservative. We serve as a beacon to the masses that have lost their way, a light illuminating the path to the original intentions of our Founding Fathers. We must raise a choir of voices declaring that America must stand on the values that made us great. Only then will the politically blind see and deaf hear! By joining the Tea Party, you are taking a stand for our nation. You will be upholding the grand principles set forth in the U.S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
Now, if you want to get real specific, we’re going to focus on the particular modern movement where it stems from. Yes, for decades since the original Tea Party, patriots have been talking amongst themselves about having another Boston Tea Party; some people may have even pondered over mailing tea bags to our congressmen and Senators.
The Tea Party movement is an American populist political movement that is generally recognized as conservative and libertarian and has sponsored protests and supported political candidates since 2009. The name Tea Party is a reference to the Boston Tea Party, a protest by colonist who objected to a British tax on tea in 1773 and demonstrated by dumping British tea taken from the docked ships into harbor. Some commentators have referred to the Tea in Tea Party as backronym “Taxed Enough Already”.
The Tea Party movement has caucuses in the House of Representatives and the Senate of the United States. The Tea Party movement has no central leadership, but is composed of a loose affiliation of national and local groups that determine their own platforms and agendas. The Tea Party movement has been as an example of grassroots political activity, although it has also been described as an example of astroturfing.
In February 2011, the Tea Party Patriots organized and hosted the American Policy Summit in Phoenix, Arizonia. The 1,600 attendee were polled regarding their preference for a 2012 presidential candidate. Herman Cain, the first of the 2012 candidates to form a presidential exploratory committee, won the poll with 22%. Runners up were Tim Pawlenty (16%), Ron Paul (15%) and Sarah Palin (10%). Ron Paul won the Summit’s online poll.
A USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in March 2010, found that 28% of those surveyed considered themselves supporters of the Tea Party movement, 26% were opponents, and 46% were neither. These figures remained stable through January 2011, but public opinion of the movement changed by August 2011. In the USA Today/Gallup poll conducted in January 2011, approximately 70% of adults, including approximately 9 out of 10 Republicans, feel Republican leaders in Congress should give consideration to Tea Party movement ideas. In August 2011, 42% of registered voters, but only 12% of Republicans, said Tea Party endorsement would be a "negative" and that they would be "less likely" to vote for such a candidate.
A CBS News/New York Times poll in September 2010 showed 19% of respondents supported the movement, 63% did not, and 16% said they did not know. In the same poll, 29% had an unfavorable view of the Tea Party, compared to 23% with a favorable view. The Center for American Progress, a progressive group, used this poll to assert that the Tea Party movement holds views that differ from those the general public. The Tea Party differed on views related to Roe v. Wade, income taxes, and Obama. The same poll retaken in August 2011 found that 20% of respondents had a "favorable" view of the Tea Party and 40% had an "unfavorable" view. A CNN/ORC poll taken September 23–25, 2011, found that the favorable/unfavorable ratio was 28% versus 53%.
An NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll later in September 2010 found 27% considered themselves Tea Party supporters. In that poll, 42% said the Tea Party has been good for the U.S. political system; 18% called it a bad thing. Those with an unfavorable view of the Tea Party outnumbered those with a favorable view 36–30%. In comparison, the Democratic Party was viewed unfavorably by a 42–37% margin and the Republican Party by 43–31%.
A poll conducted by Quinnipiac University in March 2010 found that only 13% of national adults identified themselves as part of the Tea Party movement but that the Tea Party had a positive opinion by a 28–23% margin with 49% who did not know enough about the group to form an opinion. A similar poll conducted by the Winston Group in April 2010 found that 17% of American registered voters consider themselves part of the Tea Party movement.

One of the biggest questions facing the White House election is what the ultimate impact the Tea Party movement will have in 2012. Larry Sabato, director of the UVA Center for Politics, believes that the Tea Party could actually help President Obama win the re-election. He says that while the Tea Party’s enthusiasm and energy might be something the Republican Party needs, it is the movement’s unruly nature and disorganization that could help President Obama.
As far as the movement becoming its own political party, Sabato thinks that it is very unlikely for 2012. With the movement’s clear focus being on ousting President Obama from office, a Tea Party candidate would likely take away votes from the Republican nominee, hence helping President Obama. He notes that the Tea Party is not a typical political movement and that it might be difficult to get all members on the same page. Only time will tell if the movement will become a permanent part of the Republican Party.
After making a strong push to in the 2010 Congressional midterm elections, the Tea Party was perceived by some to be unstoppable, by others to be falling apart at the seams. However, the political power held by this movement (or at least, their perceived power) made a major impact on the candidate selection process for the Republican presidential nomination. The primary battle currently underway, in which Republican grassroot supporters, party insiders and political pundits embrace and then discard candidate after candidate suggests that the Tea Party has, at least temporarily, loosened the Republican Party leadership’s grip on the political process.
Like every social movement, the Tea Party is not a homogenous entity; it is a diverse collection of individuals and organizations that may not see eye to eye. That said, Tea Party supporters seem to have coalesced around a platform that is anti-establishment, anti-government, anti-intellectual, and most of all anti-Obama. However, the Tea Party’s quest for purity on the first three issues may undermine their ability to achieve their ultimate goal of electing a Republican to replace Obama. It certainly has livened up the Republican presidential primary by including a large and colorful cast of characters, several of whom have little support among Republican Party officials.
About 30% of Americans support the Tea Party movement. Among Republicans, support is 55%, and among conservative Republicans support reaches 65%. Fewer consider themselves members of the Tea Party movement, however, with only 30% of Republicans adopting this identity. Even among conservative Republicans, only 35% considered themselves Tea Party members.
Support for the Tea Party is slightly higher among those Republicans likely to vote in the upcoming election–those who indicated that they were excited about voting. Here, Tea Party members constitute 39% of likely voters, while all Tea Party supporters total 68% of likely voters. So while the Republican primary electorate is not synonymous with the Tea Party, there is not much room to run to the left of the movement within the Republican Party, as Mitt Romney and his advisers are well aware.
We investigate the impact of the Tea Party movement protests in the United States on policymaking and citizen political behavior. The Tea Party movement is a conservative-libertarian political movement in the United States that has organized protests and supported candidates for elected office since 2009. This setting is a well-suited testing ground for hypotheses regarding the effectiveness of political protests. The movement propagates an agenda status quo, which makes the measurement of policy outcome changes in the direction desired by the movement relatively straightforward. In addition, the largest protests in the early stage of the movement were the nation-wide 2009 Tax Day Rallies. As this date was pre-set, it allows us to test whether the size of the protests on the day affected subsequent political outcomes. We find evidence of significant multiplier effects. In particular, our baseline estimate shows that every Tea Party protester increases the number of Republican votes by 15 votes. Our most conservative estimate lowers the multiplier to 7. In conclusion it shows that larger political protests both strengthen the movement, they are meant to support, and help advance the political and policy agenda of the movement. We also find that the protests increase turnout in favor of the Republican Party in congressional elections, and decreases the likelihood that incumbent Democratic representatives run for reelection. Incumbent policymaking is also affected, as representatives respond to large protests in their district by voting more conservatively in Congress. In addition, we provide evidence that these effects are driven by a persistent increase in the movement’s strength. Protests lead to subsequent protests, as well as an increase in membership, monetary contributions, and media coverage. Finally, the estimates imply significant multiplier effects: for every protester, Republican votes increase by seven to fourteen votes. Our results suggest that political activism does not derive its usefulness solely from the provision of information, but that the interactions produced at rallies and protests can affect citizens ‘social contexts in ways such that a movement for political change persists autonomously. This confirms the importance of social dynamics within networks of citizens for the realization of political change, and seems of relevance not only in the context of representative democracies, but also at the onset of revolutionary movements.

Reference
Mobilizing Ideas
Tea Party Republican: What the Polls Say by Neal Caren mobilizingideas.wordpress.com Mobilizing Ideas
How will the Tea Party affect the Presidential election? It already has. By Tina Fetner mobilizingideas.wordpress.com Who started the tea party movement? By Mike Dillard
Real News from The Blaze: How will Tea Partiers affects the 2012 election? By Tiffany Gabbay www.theblaze.com Tea Party Movement by Susan Page and Naomi Jagoda, USA Today