A New York Times/CBS News poll indicates that Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more educated than the general public. Despite their higher educational attainment, Tea Party members turn to very limited and even questionable sources for information regarding politics. According to the poll, 63% of Tea Party supporters receive the majority of their political news from the Fox News Channel; only 23% of Americans turn to Fox for news. Furthermore, 47% of Tea Party supporters say that television is their main source for Tea Party information.
That Fox is the primary source of political news for Tea Party supporters probably explains some of their outlandish beliefs, which Fox would not strongly challenge or refute.
64% believe that Obama has increased taxes -- when the opposite is true.
56% of them believe that Obama's policies favor the poor -- an opinion that is difficult to reconcile with the group's animosity towards corporate and Wall Street bailouts.
92% believe that Obama is leading the country towards socialism -- despite him favoring and implementing Bush's bank bailout.
30% believe that Obama was born in a foreign country; perhaps they think Hawaii is not part of the US.
57% have a favorable view of former president George W. Bush -- although he proposed the financial bailout (which they claim to hate), substantially increased the deficit and squandered a budget surplus.
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