The Tea Party Movement's Short Romance with Annual Protest Demonstrations

• In Event: 219 - Regular Session. Social Movement Participation and Methods

Abstract

In 2009 the Tea Party movement burst on the U.S. scene with a massive protest in Washington, DC preceded by more than a thousand local Tax Day protests on April 15, 2009 in communities across the nation. Public protest had, since the 1960's, been a common tactic of progressive groups, but more rarely used by conservative groups. Many of the organizers committed to making Tax Day Tea Parties an annual event, and there were more than 650 protests again in 2010. The Tea Party's commitment to protest tactics, however, has proven to be short lived. Using evidence combining media coverage of the tax day protests in 452 daily newspapers combined with internet traces of events, we show that the flood of protests in 2009 has dwindled to a mere trickle in recent years. Drawing on interviews and surveys with local Tea Party leaders, we describe how, and why in its leader's own words, the Tea Party movement moved so quickly from the streets to the pursuit of more conventional forms of political influence.

Authors

• John D. McCarthy, Pennsylvania State University

• Patrick Rafail, Tulane University

• Hyun Woo Kim, Pennsylvania State University

• Kevin Reuning, Pennsylvania State University