Capitalist
Jeffersonian Liberal
- May 22, 2010
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(WaPO) A new analysis of political signs displayed at a tea party rally in Washington last month reveals that the vast majority of activists expressed narrow concerns about the governments economic and spending policies and steered clear of the racially charged anti-Obama messages that have helped define some media coverage of such events.
Emily Ekins, a graduate student at UCLA, conducted the survey at the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington last month by scouring the crowd, row by row and hour by hour, and taking a picture of every sign she passed.
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.. Ekinss analysis showed that only about a quarter of all signs reflected direct anger with Obama. Only 5 percent of the total mentioned the presidents race or religion, and slightly more than 1 percent questioned his American citizenship.
Ekinss conclusion is not that the racially charged messages are unimportant but that media coverage of tea party rallies over the past year have focused so heavily on the more controversial signs that it has contributed to the perception that such content dominates the tea party movement more than it actually does.
Really this is an issue of salience, Ekins said. Just because a couple of percentage points of signs have those messages doesnt mean the other people dont share those views, but it doesnt mean they do, either. But when 25 percent of the coverage is devoted to those signs, it suggests that this is the issue that 25 percent of people think is so important that theyre going to put it on a sign, when its actually only a couple of people.
Ekins spent the summer researching the tea party movement and also as an intern at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. The survey was for her UCLA graduate studies.
Read more >>>
Emily Ekins, a graduate student at UCLA, conducted the survey at the 9/12 Taxpayer March on Washington last month by scouring the crowd, row by row and hour by hour, and taking a picture of every sign she passed.
..
.. Ekinss analysis showed that only about a quarter of all signs reflected direct anger with Obama. Only 5 percent of the total mentioned the presidents race or religion, and slightly more than 1 percent questioned his American citizenship.
Ekinss conclusion is not that the racially charged messages are unimportant but that media coverage of tea party rallies over the past year have focused so heavily on the more controversial signs that it has contributed to the perception that such content dominates the tea party movement more than it actually does.
Really this is an issue of salience, Ekins said. Just because a couple of percentage points of signs have those messages doesnt mean the other people dont share those views, but it doesnt mean they do, either. But when 25 percent of the coverage is devoted to those signs, it suggests that this is the issue that 25 percent of people think is so important that theyre going to put it on a sign, when its actually only a couple of people.
Ekins spent the summer researching the tea party movement and also as an intern at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. The survey was for her UCLA graduate studies.
Read more >>>
