Scott Rasmussen And Douglas Schoen: One Nation Under Revolt

(Excerpted from "Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System")

The Tea Party movement has become one of the most powerful and extraordinary movements in recent American political history.

It is as popular as both the Democratic and Republican parties. It is potentially strong enough to elect senators, governors and congressmen. It may even be strong enough to elect the next president of the United States -- time will tell.

But the Tea Party movement has been one of the most derided and minimized and, frankly, most disrespected movements in American history. Yet, despite being systematically ignored, belittled, marginalized, and ostracized by political, academic, and media elites, the Tea Party movement has grown stronger and stronger.

The extraordinary turnout on April 15, 2010, at rallies across the country speaks volumes to the strength, power, and influence of the Tea Party movement, with more than 750 protests held across the country, demonstrating a level of activism and enthusiasm that is both unprecedented and arguably unique in recent American political history.

Survey data collected at about this time bears out the same point. In mid-April 2010, a Rasmussen Reports survey in which nearly one quarter (24 percent) of the electorate self-identified as being members in the Tea Party movement -- up from 16 percent a month earlier.

On April 15, 2009, in honor of Tax Day, seemingly spontaneous tax protests sprung up across the country. At the time, no one in the media or in the political elite thought that these protests were important. In fact, many said they were irrelevant. Some, ignoring the obvious, said they did not exist at all.

In an April 15, 2009, interview, Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "This initiative is funded by the high end -- we call it Astroturf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's Astroturf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class."

"[They are] evil-mongers" spreading "lies, innuendo, and rumor," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.

When the elite looked, their first reaction was to say: "Well if it was real (which we really don't believe it was), it is a one-time occurrence, it is no big deal, and it is worth neither our time nor attention."

"The networks virtually refused to recognize the tea party in 2009 (19 stories), with the level of coverage increasing only after Scott Brown's election in Massachusetts" in January, the report said, referring to the Republican's win of the Senate seat long held by Edward M. Kennedy.

The first reaction from political and media elites was that these were insignificant gatherings, just small numbers of people inflated by the media.

Read more at the Washington Examiner