It appears they are neither, according to Gallup.

More than a quarter of Americans describe themselves as supporters of the Tea Party movement, and the demographics of this group generally mirror the demographics of the national population, according to a USA Today/Gallup Poll.

From March 26-28, Gallup asked 1,033 adults this question: “Do you consider yourself to be--[a supporter of the Tea Party movement, an opponent of the Tea Party movement] or neither?

Twenty-eight percent said they considered themselves to be a supporter of the Tea Party movement. A smaller percentage, 26%, said they were opponents of the Tea Party movement. Thirty-eight percent said they were neither, and 8 percent had no opinion.

“In several other respects, however--their age, educational background, employment status, and race--Tea Partiers are quite representative of the public at large,” Gallup’s Lydia Saad wrote in an analysis of the poll.

According to Gallup, 75 percent of the U.S. population is non-Hispanic White, while 11 percent are non-Hispanic black, and 15 percent belong to other races. Meanwhile, 79% of Tea Party movement supporters are non-Hispanic white, while 6 percent are non-Hispanic black, and 15 percent belong to other races.

A little more white, a little less black, but otherwise quite reflective of America at large. But this should not be surprising, given that the African-American population tends to be a bit more liberal (or at least a bit more Democrat) than the rest of the American public And that the disparity appears to be about 4.5% is not at all surprising to those who actually know about the Tea Party movement.

But what is particularly striking to me is what is found on this chart.

Yeah, that’s right – independents are part of the Tea Party movement at about the same rate as they are found in the public as a whole. So while the movement does skew Republican (not surprising – it is a conservative movement), its membership again reflects America as a whole.

And then, of course, there are the similarities.

In most regards, the Tea Party movement looks EXACTLY like America.

I’m curious, though – will the press report these statistics in a way that fairly represents this new conservative movement? Or will it continue to pretend that it is an astroturfed movement of ignorant Kluxers?