"Researchers Think They Know Why College-Educated People Support The Tea Party" [View all]

[applegrove]

Researchers Think They Know Why College-Educated People Support The Tea Party

by Rebecca Klein at the Huffington Post

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/07/22/tea-party-educational-segregation_n_5610965.html

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College-educated supporters of the tea party might change their political tune if they mingled more with those less educated than themselves.

Researchers from the University of Notre Dame said college graduates are more likely to support tea party ideas if they live in counties characterized by high levels of residential segregation based on education level. The researchers found the correlation between tea party support and educational segregation to be uniquely strong compared to factors like racial segregation and class segregation.

Rory McVeigh, a University of Notre Dame political sociologist and author of the study, told The Huffington Post that he was interested in discovering what communities might be particularly hospitable to tea party principles and why. Prior to the study, he posited that the tea party ideology, which advocates for limited government and low government spending, might resonate more among people who don't interact much with low-income individuals who may benefit from government programs. As it turns out, McVeigh was on to something.

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A press release for the study notes that even though support for the tea party is not as strong as it once was -- especially since 2010, when grassroots support for tea party organizations was at a high -- Republican politicians still cater to tea party voters.



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