Target Point

The Most Perfect of Them All - Part 2

Last year, following Mark Buerhle's perfect game, we put together a measure that allowed us to quantify and rank Major League Baseball's perfect games.  Now, with Dallas Braden's recent perfect game, we update the database to see how Braden's game measures up.

Braden's feat is still monumental and worthy of celebration - but compared to previous perfect games, Braden's pitching only put him as the next to last most perfect of them all, one step above Mark Buerhle's game last year which remains the least perfect of MLB's perfect games.  

The measure is a composite score of an adjusted pitch count and strikeouts.  Why?  Well, there are two paths to a truly perfect game...

Tea Party Issues

The findings below are taken from our exit poll of attendees of the Tax Day Tea Party in Washington DC.  Full data and analysis can be found here, and you can take our quiz here to see how you measure up to the Tea Party.

• The issues that engendered the highest levels of anger echoed the signs and speakers of the event:  healthcare reform (76% extremely angry), debt (74%), government intrusion into personal lives (73%), the growth of government (69%), bailouts (66%), and the stimulus (64%).

• While 76% of Tea Party attendees are extremely angry about healthcare reform, just 13% say it is the issue they are most angry about.  Instead,

Tea Party Political Figures

The findings below are taken from our exit poll of attendees of the Tax Day Tea Party in Washington DC.  Full data and analysis can be found here, and you can take our quiz here to see how you measure up to the Tea Party.

Sarah Palin and Ron Paul are two of the most popular politicians among the Tax Day Tea Party, but for two very different reasons.  

• Overall, Palin and Paul each capture the top spots when asked what politician today best exemplifies the goals of the Tea Party movement with 15% and 12% respectively.  We see nearly the same thing on the forced choice 2012 presidential ballot where Palin tops the list with 15% of the vote and Paul comes in second with 14%.  Mitt Romney is the only other person to break into double digits on the presidential ballot with 13%.

• Palin, Paul and Romney were also each popular choices when respondents were asked if they would consider supporting...

Tea Party Ideology

The findings below are taken from our exit poll of attendees of the Tax Day Tea Party in Washington DC.  Full data and analysis can be found here, and you can take our quiz here to see how you measure up to the Tea Party.

The Tea Party is, unsurprisingly, for small-government and cuts to taxes and spending; but there is a clear split when it comes to government promotion of moral values.

• Overwhelming majorities of 88% and 81% say government is trying to do too many things best left to individuals and businesses, and that government should cut taxes and spending, respectively.  But in terms of values, Tea Party attendees are split right down the middle...

Tea Party Partisanship

The findings below are taken from our exit poll of attendees of the Tax Day Tea Party in Washington DC.  Full data and analysis can be found here, and you can take our quiz here to see how you measure up to the Tea Party.

Despite a heavily Republican presidential voting record, Tea Party attendees are reluctant to embrace the GOP today.  They are distinctly not Democrats, but they are also not extreme Republican partisans.

• Only 43% of attendees call themselves Republican, but their presidential voting history is solidly Republican: 70% voted for John McCain in 2008, and 74% voted for George W. Bush in 2004.  However, this is not as strong a Republican showing as it was among Republicans themselves: consider that in 2004 95% of self-identified Republicans voted for Bush and in 2008 86% voted for McCain. 

• Despite this partisan history, they are wary of partisanship moving forw ard...