“Tea Party” polls better than GOP

It seems to be Tea Party Tuesday here at Blogging Blue, so here’s some interesting polling from Rasmussen Reports showing that a non-existent “Tea Party” would poll better than the Republican Party if it organized itself as an actual political party to run Congressional candidates across the country:

In the national telephone poll of 1,000 likely voters released Monday, 23 percent said they preferred to vote for a candidate from the yet unformed “Tea Party” for Congress in 2010. The Republican Party trailed the non-existent political organization by 5 percentage points, getting the support of 18 percent of respondents.

Democratic candidates were preferred of 36 percent.

Local tea party organizations have sprung up in states across the country, but there is little national – or even state-level – cohesion among them. Most states have several groups competing for support.

Despite the disorganization, the tea party brand is strong enough that a number of conservative candidates, including Republican California Senate hopeful Chuck DeVore, have tried to adopt the movement’s message.

According to the poll, 41 percent of all respondents said they had a “favorable view” of the so-called “Tea Party,” while only 22 percent characterized their view of the grassroots anti-tax movement as “unfavorable.” Thirty-seven percent said they were unsure.

Seventy percent of Republicans said they had a favorable view.

Given these poll numbers, it will be interesting to see if the Tea Party movement can organize itself enough to become an actual viable third party, and if it can, what kind of impact it could have on the 2010 Congressional elections.

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