71% Of Republican Voters Back the Tea Party Movement

Protein Wisdom - Nearly three-quarters of Republican voters identify themselves as supporters of the tea party movement, according to a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.

The 71 percent of Republicans who count themselves among the tea party faithful had a lot of good things to say about the grasroots conservative movement, and overall there are several indicators that show growing support for it.

Twenty-seven percent of all those surveyed count themselves as part of the tea party movement, compared to 61 percent who do not.

The tea party has emerged as a potent force in American politics and a center of gravity within the Republican Party, with a large majority of Republicans showing an affinity for the movement that has repeatedly bucked the GOP leadership this year, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll has found.

In the survey, 71% of Republicans described themselves as tea-party supporters, saying they had a favorable image of the movement or hoped tea- party candidates would do well in the Nov. 2 elections.

Already, the tea-party movement has helped to oust a number of incumbents and candidates backed by party leaders in this year’s GOP primaries amid complaints that they lacked commitment to small-government principles. The poll findings suggest that the rising influence of the movement, with its push to cut spending and oppose the Democratic agenda, will drive the GOP to become more conservative and less willing to seek common ground on policy.

“These are essentially conservative Republicans who are very ticked-off people,” said Republican pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Peter Hart.

If the Republicans win control of the House or Senate this fall, Mr. McInturff added, the survey shows “enormous amounts about how limited the interest is going to be in those new majorities to try to seek negotiation with the president or the Democratic leadership.” The poll found that tea-party supporters make up one-third of the voters most likely to cast ballots in November’s midterm elections. This showed the movement “isn’t a small little segment, but it is a huge part of what’s driving 2010,” Mr. Hart said.

The survey also found growing energy among some core Democratic voting blocs, such as African-Americans and Hispanics—a tightening that is common as an election draws closer, according to pollsters.

A viable, motivated, growing movement with classical liberalism as it’s core — it took forty years, but I can think of no more convincing referendum on a dysfunctional one party regime than this. Or, for that matter, on that regime’s malignant socialist bent, openly championed by the Democrats and passively aided by Republicans.