Favorable Views of Tea Party Up 14 Points Since January

Commentary From the Blogger: In my latest column, I discussed the transformation of the American political ideology of Reagan conservatism, which is one of skepticism toward government, to the modern Obama progressivism that is far less understanding of the nature of government. Perhaps, I am correct in my assumption that Americans can in fact reach a critical mass.

Establishment Republicans fault the Tea Party candidates, especially in the Senate races, for losing in the 2012 election cycle. To a certain extent, I would certainly agree. It appears, however, that a healthy hate and distrust of government is translating into an increase of support for the Tea Part movement, and I am not at all surprised to see it.

From Rasmussen:

Favorables for the Tea Party have jumped since news broke that the Internal Revenue Service was targeting the grassroots movement and other conservative groups.

A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows that 44% of Likely U.S. Voters now have a favorable opinion of the Tea Party. That’s up 14 points from January  but still down from April 2009‘s high of 51% when the Tea Party protests against President Obama’s spending policies first erupted.

Forty-four percent (44%) also now view the Tea Party unfavorably, although that’s down five points from earlier this year. The latest findings include 18% with a Very Favorable opinion of the movement and 25% with a Very Unfavorable one. Thirteen percent (13%) are undecided. (To see survey question wording, click here.)

The survey of 1,000 Likely Voters was conducted on May 21-22, 2013 by Rasmussen Reports. The margin of sampling error is +/- 3 percentage points with a 95% level of confidence. Field work for all Rasmussen Reports surveys is conducted by Pulse Opinion Research, LLC. See methodology.

Related articles

• 57% Want IRS Offenders Jailed or Fired (rasmussenreports.com)