Poll Shows Dems Aren't Defining Tea Party

Poll Shows Dems Aren't Defining Tea Party - Hotline On Call By Erin McPike

A private poll conducted for a top House GOPer shows the perception of the Tea Party movement has been unchanged since Jan. among independents.

Pres. Obama, Bill Clinton and Dem leaders have berated Tea Party groups for violence and language the Dem leaders consider to be outside the mainstream. Dem strategists have driven the message for months, and a KY Dem candidate, LG Daniel Mongiardo, even launched a Web site last month to educate voters about the downsides of the movement.

But it's not working, according to the survey conducted by GOP pollster John McLaughlin for House Min. Whip Eric Cantor's campaign.

Among the independent voters tested, 60% agreed that the Tea Party movement is a movement of concerned citizens rather than anti-government activists -- a finding unchanged since it was tested 3 months ago. The numbers were virtually even among independent men and women, with 61% of independent men generally agreeing with the Tea Party movement and 59% of independent women thinking the same.

Of the Dem voters tested in the poll, negative opinions of the movement jumped up 12 points, leading Cantor aides to deduce that the poll shows that recent Dem activity panning the movement was engineered to drive up the negative impression of the Tea Party groups simply in order to motivate the depressed Dem base in what many assume will be a base-driven election.

Indeed, DCCC spokesman Ryan Rudominer said, "There's no question the Tea Party definitely fires up our base."

But Rudominer added that trying to define the Tea Party is also an attempt to drive GOP candidates for Congress straight to the group's platform and force them further to the right in advance of the midterm elections.

"This is going to be the summer of the Tea Party primaries," Rudominer said, pointing to the late summer dates of some primaries that the DCCC believes will have a negative effect for the eventual GOP nominees on their general election chances.

GOPers, however, are less concerned about that given the shift in independent voters' attitudes toward their party. Still, aides conceded that the GOP minority was not held in particularly high esteem in the poll, either.

McLaughlin's poll, conducted April 13-15 of 1,000 likely voters, carried a margin of error of +/- 3.1%.

http://hotlineoncall.nationaljournal.com/archives/2010/04/poll_shows_dems.php