Tax day for Tea Parties

As tea party rallies spontaneously spring up around the state to protest tax day, the New York Times provides details about who supports the movement:

Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, and are no more or less afraid of falling into a lower socioeconomic class, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll. ...

Tea Party supporters’ fierce animosity toward Washington, and the president in particular, is rooted in deep pessimism about the direction of the country and the conviction that the policies of the Obama administration are disproportionately directed at helping the poor rather than the middle class or the rich.

In addition, they're generally more angry than the average Republican, they support Medicare and Social Security even though they want to shrink the federal government, and a plurality think Sarah Palin is unqualified to be president.

The full story is here.

ABC News pollster Gary Langer has more on the Tea Party movement and why polls differ in gauging their support for the still fuzzy goals of the movement.

In related news, Politico's Ken Vogel found a link between Sacramento-based Russo Marsh + Rogers, a Republican political consultancy firm, and the Tea Party Express. The story confirms that some GOP operatives see the tea parties as a cash cow.