The Tea Party, Sarah Palin, and the 2010 Congressional Elections: The Aftermath of the Election of Barack Obama

Objective Sarah Palin and the Tea Party played active roles in endorsing candidates for the U.S. House in 2010; we explore whether they followed different strategies. Palin proved more careful in backing candidates while the decentralized Tea Party movement often became involved in hopeless causes....

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social science quarterly 2012-12, Vol.93 (5), p.1424-1435
Main Authors: Bullock III, Charles S., Hood III, M. V.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Candidates
Congressional elections
Decentralization
Democracy
Elections
Endorsements
Federal legislation
Legislation
Obama, Barack
Palin, Sarah
Political activism
Political movements
Political Parties
Race
U.S.A
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Summary:Objective Sarah Palin and the Tea Party played active roles in endorsing candidates for the U.S. House in 2010; we explore whether they followed different strategies. Palin proved more careful in backing candidates while the decentralized Tea Party movement often became involved in hopeless causes. Method We analyze the endorsements made by Palin and the Tea Party in contests involving House seats held by Democrats going into the 2010 elections. Results We show that Palin and the Tea Party had different endorsement approaches. Conclusions Palin's endorsements seem to have been guided by more strategic considerations than those from the Tea Party. The Tea Party concentrated more on trying to defeat incumbents and especially incumbents who had supported the Obama legislative package with the stimulus bill being a lightning rod for Tea Partiers. Palin proved far more selective in making endorsements and concentrated more on backing challengers likely to unseat Democrats. Although she endorsed less than half as many races as the Tea Party, she backed almost as many winners.
ISSN:0038-4941
1540-6237
DOI:10.1111/j.1540-6237.2012.00923.x