Saturday, April 2, 2011

My 2011 April 15th Tea Party Rally Questionnaire - You Can Help Write It

I attended the 2009 and 2010 Tea Party Tax Day rallies in Southcentral Alaska. I questioned people attending them. In 2009, I decided once I got to the rally at the park by Lake Wasilla, to poll a few people as to their political affiliation:
13 Libertarians
9 non-partisan
6 Republicans
2 Alaska Independence Party
In 2010, I attended both the Anchorage and Wasilla Tea Party rallies. I sought to poll more deeply. I was able to get 63 of over 70 people I polled to provide information:
What Party are you registered in?
Anchorage:
18 - GOP
16 - Independent/unaffiliated
3 - Libertarian
2 - Democrat
2 - Alaska Independence Party
1 - wouldn't disclose

Wasilla:

12 - Independent/unaffiliated
8 - GOP
1 - Democrat

Total:

28 - Independent/unaffiliated
26 - GOP
3 - Democrat
3 - Libertarian
2 - Alaska Independence
Who did you vote for in the 2008 presidential contest?
Anchorage:
31 - McCain
6 - Obama
2 - wrote in Ron Paul
1 - wrote in Baldwin

Wasilla:

19 McCain
1 Obama
1 - wrote in Dick Cheney

Total:

50 - McCain
7 - Obama
2 - Paul write in
1 - Cheney write in
1 - Baldwin write in
How old do you believe the planet earth to be:
Anchorage:

17 - billions of years
5 - millions of years
3 - 6,000 years
16 - didn't know or refused to answer

Wasilla:

1 - billions of years
3 - millions of years
3 - in the hundreds of thousands of years
9 - less than 10,000 years
2 - refused to answer
3 - I neglected or chose not to ask
How would you rate these politicians for the leadership they are exhibiting right now, on a scale of 1 to 10, 10 being highest (average of all who answered):
Anchorage:

Palin - 6.2
Obama - 1.8
Begich - .9

Wasilla:

Palin 8.7
Obama - 1.3
Begich - 2.6
Who, currently active in American political affairs and dialogue, inspires you the most right now:
Anchorage:
10 - Ron Paul
5 - Michelle Bachman
3 - Sarah Palin
3 - Mitt Romney
3 - George W. Bush
2 - Glenn Beck
2 - Ralph Nader
1 - Barack Obama
1 - Denis Kucinich
1 - Alan Grayson
1 - Mike Huckabee
1 - Sean Hannity

Wasilla:

6 - Sarah Palin
3 - Glenn Beck
2 - Michelle Bachman
2 - Ron Paul
2 - Newt Gingrich
1 - Sean Parnell
1 - Mike Huckabee
1 - Bill O'Reilly
1 - Rush Limbaugh
1 - Paul Ryan
1 - Rick Perry

Total:

12 - Ron Paul
9 - Sarah Palin
7 - Michelle Bachman
5 - Glenn Beck
3 - George W. Bush
3 - Mitt Romney
3 - Newt Gingrich
2 - Mike Huckabee
2 - Ralph Nader
...... and so on
Here's my proposed poll for 2011:

April 15 2011 Tea Party Questionnaire:
1. How many tea party events have you been to?
2. Are you a registered voter?
3. How are you registered?
4. To which branch of the tea party do you belong?
a.Tea Party Patriots
b.Tea Party Express
c. Tea Party Nation
d. National Tea Party Federation
e. Americans for Prosperity
f. FreedomWorks
g. American Tea Party for Jesus
h. The Original Tea Party

5. Do you contribute to a tea party organization?
6. Which one?
7. Do you know who the Koch Brothers are?

8. Which one of these figures inspires you most:
a. Ron Paul
b. Sarah Palin
c. Mitt Romney
d. Andrew Breitbart
e. Glenn Beck
f. Michelle Bachman
g. other ________

9. In 2010, in the Alaska US Senate race, who did you vote for:
a. Joe Miller
b. Scott McAdams
c. Lisa Murkowski

10. Is Islam a religion?
11. What religion is Barack Obama?
12. Was Barack Obama born in the United States?
13. Who do you hope will be the next US president?
I'm hoping to poll at least 100 people this year. Do you have any other suggested questions, or ideas about how to streamline the poll to get more meaningful information, more quickly than how I've got this configured?

images - top: 2009 tea party rally in Wasilla; bottom: 2010 tea party rally in Anchorage

11 comments:

eclecticsandra said...

You might want to see how they feel about getting any government subsidies such as Medicare, Social Security, or Oil fund reimbursement, and thrown in food stamps or welfare payments for fun. I would stick to tax issues because that's what the 4/15 rally is supposedly about.

ella said...

It might be fun to see if they can name the three branches of government.

Considering the measly turnout at the D.C. Tea Party rally last week (around a hundred people), it is quite possible that there will NOT be 100 people for you to poll.

What if they held a Tea Party rally and nobody came?

Philip Munger said...

ella,

This is Wasilla. They will come. Not so sure about Anchorage.

Anonymous said...

Ask them if they think the earth is round or flat.

Seriously- ask if the earth orbits the sun or the other way around.

Maybe ask some educational policy questions. Do you favor public funding for public schools; school vouchers etc.

Possibly you could ask some kind of open ended question concerning money in politics. Is secret funding good? Is unlimited funding good? How might this new supply of money affect tax policies?

Ask them to supply the most important government conspiracy that needs to be exposed or stopped.

Anonymous said...

Q what websites do you read?

Q Do you have any progressive friends?

Q What is your opinion of the ADN

Q Is Israel evil?

Linda1961 said...

Ask them if they realize that the Boston Tea Party was a protest about a corporate TAX CUT.

Anonymous said...

Ask them what they read- if anything.

"Ask them if they realize that the Boston Tea Party was a protest about a corporate TAX CUT"

How about making it a multiple choice question?

Was the original Boston Teaparty to
a. Protest thug unionized dock workers who had been influenced by marxists
b. Protest korans being smuggled into the U.S. in large bags of tea
c. Protest that taxes on large multinational corporations had been lowered too far
d. Just cause trouble- small business owners had been influenced by community organizers to have an illegal protest
e. None of the above-fill in their own answer.

Stuart said...

1. Who has more power in America, the 1,000 most wealthy or the poorest 50,000,000?
2. Do you feel safer now that we have won the war on terror?

Philip Munger said...

Love these questions? Anyone want to come with on the 15th and help?

Anonymous said...

I'm not exactly local, so I can't help you.

It's such a good idea I'm thinking about doing this myself in my area.

Anonymous said...

Where was the Wasilla tea party picture taken? Is that Wasilla Lake? And aprox how many people do you think attended?