Evidence?

     I spend so much time tearing into other people's ludicrous claims on here that I thought I'd espouse some of my own; these are to some degree a tongue in cheek stab at the less scientific aspects of evolutionary psychology, while also being an unsupported hypothesis of my own.

They're more bigoted too...

NY Times says that Tea Party Backers are wealthier and more educated than the population as a whole... I think this article bears examination.
Firstly, this was determined by a phone survey, which included a whopping 1500 people (ok, almost 1600), which calls into question the validity of any of the data based on sample size and how representative the sample actually is of the American people. I'll be fair, and pretend that these issues don't exist for the sake of argument:
According to the survey, about 18% of the population supports the Tea Party movement, stemming from the bailout and continuing into resistance of Obama's health care initiatives. There's nothing cited in the article to substantiate the headline, whatsoever, so we're left to take the author's word for that. If it proved true, it would lend some credibility to the assertion that this is a class issue more than anything else (Yes, Jacqueline Holman, it means I'd have to agree with you on parts of this, since that's where the evidence lies). I'm inclined to buy the first half of that thesis, based on the selfish greed that drives the whole "I don't want to share my money with people who didn't earn it, even if it keeps them alive" sentiment behind the Tea Parties. I'm not terribly inclined to accept the better educated aspect, as it also cites that those people involved in the movement tend to be older Americans, who, quite frankly, didn't need to be better educated to compile the wealth that some of these people have. It could just as easily be a function of the good old boy networks, particularly since 80% of the people who identified with it were white males, and 98% were white.
Some of the other numbers are equally interesting... such as that 25% of them think that Obama is favouring blacks or the 90% that think America is headed in the wrong directtion. This reeks, unfortunately for those involved, of "I don't want teh Black as POTUS". Too far you say?