Dubious Doocy: Poll found “majority” of tea partiers are Dems or independents
Published
Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy claimed that a “majority” of tea-party supporters in a recent poll identified themselves as Democrats or independents. Although Doocy did not specify which poll he was discussing, recent polling by the Winston Group found that 57 percent of tea-party supporters identified themselves as Republicans.
Doocy repeatedly says poll found tea-party majority to be Dems and independents
Doocy: "[W]hen you look at the people who are tea-party members, over half of them are Democrat and independent." From the April 19 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:
DOOCY: [B]efore I went on vacation, I know we had that poll that showed that when you look at the people who are tea-party members, over half of them are Democrat and independent, and they know those midterm elections are coming. They've got to be nice to all those people who are going to pull that lever.
Doocy: "[T]he people who identified themselves as being members of the tea party ... a majority of them are Democrat and independent." Later in the same edition of Fox & Friends, Doocy said:
[A]s we've seen from some recent polls, apparently, the people who identified themselves as being members of the tea party or pro-tea-party people are -- a majority of them are Democrat and independent. And, in fact, there are more Democrats and independents combined than Republicans in the tea party, and so that's why it's so potent.
Winston Group: “57% of Tea Party members say they are Republican”
Polling found 41 percent of “Tea Party members” -- substantially less than a majority -- were independents or Democrats. The Winston Group conducted a series of surveys monthly from December 2009 through February 2010. The Hill described the Winston Group as “a Republican-leaning firm that conducted the surveys on behalf of an education advocacy group.” In an April 1 memo about the results of its polling, the Winston Group stated:
Politically, it comes as no surprise that more Republicans and conservatives tend to be drawn to the Tea Party movement. However, independents make up a sizable portion of the Tea Party movement as well. While 57% of Tea Party members say they are Republican, another 28% say they are independent. Additionally, 13% identify themselves as Democrats.
The memo included a table of the results by party identification:
