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Is the TEA Party really falling out of favor with the American people

This week we were treated to a new CNN/Opinion Research poll on the TEA Party’s popularity.  It was so monumental, so ground breaking, so informative than Sen. Harry Reid decided he must mention it on the floor of the Senate.  “The country doesn’t much care about the TEA Party”, he exclaimed in an attempt to force the GOP leadership in DC to capitulate to Democrat demands in the budget talks.

Oh really, Sen. Reid?

Let’s examine a quick time line, shall we?

March 2009:

In March of 2009, there wasn’t a TEA Party.  The TEA Party began when people on the internet first watched Rick Santelli’s rant on Feb. 19th, 2009, began talking about it on message boards, Facebook, and via e-mail.  The first TEA Party protest was held on April 15th, 2009.

Americans unhappy about government spending came out in force on Tax Day, April 15, 2009, modeling their protests after the original Boston Tea Party that helped touch off the American Revolution.

LINK [1]

March 2010:

In March of 2010, CBS and the New York Times were conducting a poll about the TEA Party.  Their results:

Tea Party supporters are wealthier and more well-educated than the general public, and are no more or less afraid of falling into a lower socioeconomic class, according to the latest New York Times/CBS News poll.

The 18 percent of Americans who identify themselves as Tea Party supporters tend to be Republican, white, male, married and older than 45.

LINK [2]

March 2011:

Sen. Reid quoted the poll from the CNN/Opinion Research organizations which finds that 32% of the American people support the TEA Party, making it roughly equal in terms of support to both the Democratic and Republican Parties.  LINK [3]

Conclusion?

A grassroots movement that was spawned less than 2 years ago has skyrocketed in popularity, with their approval growing by double digits each year, until roughly one third of the American population says they support it. 

Yep, that sounds like a dead and dying movement that no one cares about Sen. Reid…

Why doesn’t anyone point out to Sen. Reid that his Senate, according to the RealClearPolitics running average ( LINK [4] ), only has a 24% approval rating amongst the American people, with 64% of the people disapproving of their job performance?  Maybe the American people “Don’t care much about Sen. Reid’s Senate”?

Just food for thought.

TEA Party favorability:

[5]

Congress’s favorability (Black line, from RCP [4] ) :

[6]