The Tea Party: A Political Analysis

Register to read the introduction… During the 111th Congress political activists were speaking out against the actions of President Obama and the Democratic Party, these activists were supporters of the Republican and the Tea Party (Aldrich, 2014). The Economy at the time was in a deep recession causing high unemployment and diminished economic growth for the American people. The Tea Party associated the economic downfalls with Obama’s administration which cause the Democrats to suffer in the 2010 election. After hearing speeches given by the Tea Party, the voters began to blame the state of the economy on the Democrats. The Republican Party grew in power because they were able to influence the voters into believing that Congress had failed in the hands of the Democrats this can be comparted to the 1994 election where the Republicans also gain several seats based on voter perception (Aldrich, 2014). “Voters who blamed both Democrats and Republicans for the state of the nation were less likely to vote for a Democratic candidate, holding all else equal” (Aldrich, 2014, p.487). Whether the voter assigned blame to the Democrats or both parties in the 2010 the democrats were shown to suffer a loss in the …show more content…
Matthew Dickinson makes the claim that prior to the 2014 election unemployment had fallen 2 percent resting at a 5.8 after Obama’s re-election ( Dickinson, 2014). The gross domestic product (GDP) had risen 4.6 percent in 2014 and the stock market was recording its highest valuation (Dickinson, 2014). The actual economy was showing improvement but, the voter’s perspective of the economy had remained low. The republican were able to gain a majority in the House and Senate based on voters remaining uniformed. Lynn Vavreck a politician scientist cites from exit polls that 45 percent of the voters carried concern for foreign relation, immigration and the issue in health care (Dickinson, 2014). Using Matthew Dickinson’s article it is clear that even when the economy is improving politicians will have trouble attributing their actions in office to the economy. Campaigns will take advantage of condition of the economy to bringing down incumbent. Lynn Vavreck speculates that only the president will gain during economic growth and the legislators will gain seats based on the success of the president (Vavreck, 2014). The congressional campaign will not have the success of the presidential campaign during a midterm election. In a Midterm election the voters will be less likely to reward the president’s party during economic success (Vavreck, 2014). The voters are more likely to base their votes on the approval rating of the president and their ability to “handle the job” (Vavreck, 2014). Lynn Vavreck’s opinion on the weighing the factors in a campaign show that she puts more importance on the presidential approval rating rather than the