Tea party sympathizers fret deficits — and guys kissing

A tea party event is scheduled for CommunityAmerica Ballpark on April 15 — tax day.

Conservative commentators have tried to make the point that the movement’s criticism of Barack Obama stems from his policy decisions and not who he is or what he represents. “[M]y impression is that race is largely beside the point,” David Brooks wrote last September.

But after looking closely at recent poll results, Tom Schaller, a writer at Five Thirty Eight, sees a more complicated picture. Schaller says the data indicate that tea-party sympathizers hold out-of-the-mainstream ideas about African-Americans, immigrants and gays.