Two New Polls Reveal Scary Beliefs Held by Conservative "Hatriots"

[G_j]

http://www.care2.com/causes/politics/blog/new-polls-reveal-scary-beliefs-held-by-conservative-hatriots/

Scott P

Two new articles/polls this week highlight how out of touch Republicans and Tea Partyers are from basic reality. While I am not surprised per se at some of these results I have to say that I would have hoped that they had a better handle on their own personal sanity.

The first article appeared in Forbes, that bastion of liberalism, in an article entitled the Misinformed Tea Part Movement, http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/18/tea-party-ignorant-taxes-opinions-columnists-bruce-bartlett.html, Bruce Bartlett, an economic historian who worked as an advisor to Reagan and a Treasury official for Bush 41, teams up with my seemingly new pal David Frum (I have mentioned him in my past two blog postings) to poll a gathering of 300 or so Tea Party protestors to see what they know about taxes. Based on their focus on taxes one might have expected that their answers would be close, if not wholly accurate, instead they are totally divorced from reality.

According to the poll when they were asked how much the federal government gets in taxes as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) the average answer is almost three times as high as the truth—42% vs. 14.8%. In fact, historically speaking the highest it has ever been since we have collected this data was “20.9% at the peak of World War II in 1944” with the” highest since the 1970s occurring in 2000 when it was 20.6% of GDP.”

Per Bartlett’s article the Tea Partyers were then asked how much a family making $50,000 per year pays in federal income taxes to which the average response was “$12,710, the median $10,000. In percentage terms this means a tax burden of between 20% and 25% of income.”

This is waaaay off the mark as Bartlett points out using data from the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT): “tax filers with adjusted gross incomes between $40,000 and $50,000 have an average federal income tax burden of just 1.7%. Those with adjusted gross incomes between $50,000 and $75,000 have an average burden of 4.2%.”


<snip>

As if that weren’t enough to make you shake our head. A new Harris Poll shows that 24% of Republicans believe Obama is the Anti-Christ:
http://news.harrisinteractive.com/profiles/investor/ResLibraryView.asp?BzID=1963&ResLibraryID=37050&Category=1777
..more..

[krispos42]

1. Heh, still using the RW meme that taxes are a "burden"

Just an observation. Teabaggers are clueless and proud, as usual.

[RKP5637]

2. But the bad part is they are manipulated misinformed voters. n/t

[krispos42]

3. Yup, absolutely. They have a right to be clueless and to vote.

It's just that we don't really want to encourage the exercise of both of those rights simulaniously.

[RKP5637]

5. Good Point!

:toast:

[OHdem10]

4. Thank Republican Office Holders, In order to help the Country Club

Republicans with their taxes, the more working class Republicans
are "played".

Here is an example: Small Southern Town--President of Rotary
Club makes about 35,000 dollars annually. Political Town Meeting
the Legislator running in next election, rants on about
how Bill Clinton is taxing the rich. The President of
the Rotary being in one of highest positions socially in this
town is left believing his taxes are being raised. Because of his
social position, he assumes he is considered rich.

The truth, you had to make over 100,000 dollars before the tax
reached you.

This sort of misleading goes on all the time.

Have you watched Fox at all and how they jump through hoops
and twist themselves into pretzels trying to find a place
where some middle working class person may have to pay higher
taxes.

They have to have the votes of the working class if they are
to win and help the Country Club Crowd.

[G_j]

6. "For an antitax group, they don't know much about taxes"

(from the Forbes piece)

:rofl:

[G_j]

7. **