The Fast Fix: Are there Tea Party Democrats?

Michele Bachmann claims disaffected Democrats make up a part of the Tea Party movement, which is generally associated with the far right. Is there truth to her claim?

Is the Tea Party a movement composed entirely of Republicans? Or is there such a thing as a Tea Party Democrat?

Republicans have long argued that the tea party includes Americans of all different partisan stripes. In announcing her presidential candidacy last month, Rep. Michele Bachmann said this about the Tea Party:

"The liberals, and to be clear I'm NOT one of them, want you to think the Tea Party is the Right Wing of the Republican Party. But it's not. It's made up of disaffected Democrats, independents, people who've never been political a day in their life, libertarians, Republicans. We're people who simply want America back on the right track again."

There's limited evidence that Bachmann is right.

A 2010 Gallup poll showed that 15 percent of Democrats described themselves as Tea Party supporters although other polls have shown that number to be as low as 4 percent.

National Tea Party groups also tend to endorse Republican candidates. In 2010, the Tea Party Express did back a Democrat in Idaho Congressman Walt Minnick, but he wound up losing to a Republican candidate.

There are, of course, some number of fiscally conservative Democrats who identify with the back-to-basics financial approach advocated by the Tea Party. But they are a pittance as compared to the number of Republicans who call themselves members of the Tea Party.

The dearth of Tea Party Democrats means that the party will continue to attack Republicans as beholden to the movement without fearing any real political repercussions.

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