Mad As Hell: How the Tea Party Movement Is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System

by Scott Rasmussen, Doug Schoen

The riotous tea parties and angry town hall meetings of the past few years have thrown American politics into turmoil. Americans should have seen this revolt populist movements have always arisen in times of economic hardship and uncertainty. In Mad As Hell , pollsters Scott Rasmussen and Douglas Schoen use extensive and original research to explore the mind and heart of this populist uprising and explain how it is reshaping American politics—whether politicians and elite journalists like it or not. The Tea Party movement is an authentic grassroots movement of concerned American citizens demanding to be heard by an out-of-touch political establishment. Their concerns are real and their issues are legitimate, the authors maintain; moreover, the new populism is here to stay, and it has already changed our politics for the better. In Mad As Hell , Rasmussen and Schoen have produced an authoritative guide to the new populism, featuring a combination of proprietary polling data, political analysis, results from online focus groups, and interviews with on-the-ground players. This updated edition includes a new afterword, featuring data and analysis from the November 2010 midterm elections and what we should look for in the 2012 elections. It is a must-read for anyone interested in American electoral politics.

352 pages, Paperback

Published September 6, 2011

About the author

Scott Rasmussen is founder and president of Rasmussen Reports. He is a political analyst, author, speaker and, since 1994, an independent public opinion pollster.

Scott founded Rasmussen Reports, LLC in 2003 as a media company specializing in the collection, publication and distribution of public opinion polling information. Rasmussen Reports provides in-depth data, news coverage and commentary on political, business, economic and lifestyle topics at RasmussenReports.com, America’s most visited public opinion polling site.

Scott speaks regularly at events and with the media, translating poll numbers into meaningful analysis and commentary about current events, underlying trends and the questions that Americans are curious about. He is a frequent guest on Fox News, CNBC, BBC and other major media outlets. He also has appeared on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central.

Scott is the author of Mad as Hell: How the Tea Party Movement is Fundamentally Remaking Our Two-Party System and In Search of Self-Governance and has had several columns published in the Wall Street Journal. Additionally, his work has appeared in USA Today, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Investor's Business Daily, The Christian Science Monitor and other major publications.

Scott did his first radio commercial at the age of seven and considers a career highlight the opportunity to work closely with hockey legend Gordie Howe. Scott and his father also founded the cable sports network ESPN. They sold their interest in 1984.