Symposium

Tea Time in America? The Impact of the Tea Party Movement on the 2010 Midterm Elections

Christopher F. Karpowitz^a1, J. Quin Monson^a2, Kelly D. Patterson^a3 and Jeremy C. Pope^a4

^a1 Brigham Young University

^a2 Brigham Young University

^a3 Brigham Young University

^a4 Brigham Young University

By winning the presidency and strengthening its majority in both chambers of Congress, the 2008 election gave control of the government to the Democratic Party. However, as the 2010 election season unfolded, the news for the Democratic Party could not have been much worse. Economic conditions had not improved dramatically. A bitter and lengthy fight over health care reform signaled to citizens that little had changed in how Washington, DC, governed. The stimulus package and its impact on the federal debt caused unease in a segment of the electorate that was concerned with the size of government. In this context, observers of American politics began to take note of the number of citizens affiliating with, or at least expressing favorability toward, a loose coalition of groups known as the Tea Party movement. Tea Party rallies began to occur throughout the United States, seeking to draw attention to the movement's primary issues.

Christopher F. Karpowitz is an assistant professor of political science and a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. His research and teaching interests include political psychology, political communication, and political participation, with a special focus on deliberative theory and practice. He can be reached at chris_karpowitz@byu.edu.

J. Quin Monson is an assistant professor of political science and associate director of the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. His research and teaching interests include public opinion; campaigns, elections, and voting behavior; survey research methods; and religion and politics. He can be reached at quin.monson@byu.edu.

Kelly D. Patterson is a professor in the department of political science at Brigham Young University. He directs the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy and conducts research on campaigns and elections. He can be reached at kelly_patterson@byu.edu.

Jeremy C. Pope is an assistant professor of political science and a Research Fellow at the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy at Brigham Young University. His research interests include representation, polarization, and the constitutional convention. He can be reached at jpope@byu.edu.

Footnotes

Authors are listed alphabetically. We thank Gary Jacobson for his generosity in allowing us access to data on candidate quality. We also acknowledge the collaboration of Michael Barber, Chris Mann, and Anand Sokhey in conducting the surveys. We are especially grateful to John Holbein and Matt Frei for yeomen's work in collecting Tea Party endorsement data and collecting survey data, respectively. Josephine Borich and Calista Glenn also assisted with collecting endorsement data. A Mentored Environment Grant at Brigham Young University facilitated the data collection for this project.