SANTA ANA AND WASHINGTON — Republicans sought to ignite a popular revolt against President Obama on Wednesday by staging "tea party" protests across the nation to demand lower taxes and less government spending -- but the tactic carried risk for the party.
With half a million or more jobs vanishing each month, many Americans are less concerned about how much Washington deducts from their paychecks than whether they will have a paycheck at all.
"Nothing is as pressing a concern as the economy," said Republican pollster Whit Ayres, adding that even among Republicans the political salience of taxes is not what it once was.
In California, where the Proposition 13 tax rebellion of 1978 sparked a national conservative resurgence, the rallies carried extra resonance, thanks to the nearly $13 billion in state tax hikes enacted in February.
But for Republicans nationally, the issue is whether their call for shrinking the federal government in the depths of a severe economic downturn makes them seem out of touch or tone-deaf to the harsh reality of the jobs crisis.
Gallup polls released this week found that 53% of Americans approve of the expansion of the U.S. government to help fix the economy, even if most of that group wants it scaled back once the crisis abates. And 48% think that the amount of federal income taxes they pay is "about right," a finding that shows anti-tax sentiment near a historic low for the last five decades.
Nonetheless, protesters gathered in cities across America to mark the April 15 tax filing deadline with rallies inspired by the Boston Tea Party and promoted by Fox News, conservative blogs and talk radio.
Among the top grievances were the hundreds of billions of dollars in recent taxpayer subsidies to automakers, banks and Wall Street investment giants.
"All these bailouts, it's just money that's never going to reach the common people," Dan Kipp, a 31-year-old stay-at-home father, said at a demonstration outside the Colorado Capitol in Denver.
Like scores of other protests, from Boston to San Diego, the one in Denver served as a forum for a broad range of attacks on Obama and fellow Democrats who control Congress. Demonstrators waved signs saying, "Don't Blame Me, I Voted for the American" and "Our Soldiers Didn't Fight and Die for Socialism."
The California rallies offered a fresh display of upheaval within the Republican Party over the new sales, income and other tax hikes approved by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the Legislature.
