Tea Party-rörelsen mer populär än det republikanska partiet

Talking Points Memo:

”A new Rasmussen poll suggests that the Tea Party movement is far and away more popular than the Republican Party it seeks to influence — so much so that if it were a full-fledged political party, it would overtake the GOP on the generic Congressional ballot.

The question was phrased as follows: ”Okay, suppose the Tea Party Movement organized itself as a political party. When thinking about the next election for Congress, would you vote for the Republican candidate from your district, the Democratic candidate from your district, or the Tea Party candidate from your district?”

The results: Democratic 36%, Tea Party 23%, Republican 18%.”

Kontext: George Packers ”Populism and paranoia”.

Uppdatering: Några synpunkter på Tea party-opinionsmätningen från USA:s sista objektiva journalist, Marc Ambinder:

• The Tea Party movement could benefit the GOP in the short term and have negligble effects in the longterm. Dems mock it at their peril.

• A surge in GOP enthusiasm for 2010… And then the movement dissipates. Dems assume that it will drive ’12 nom to the right. But that’s unknowable at this point.

• Of course, the CW could be true: the Tea Partiers will further break and radicalize a broken party and their ideology will predominate in the 2012 primaries.