The Incredible Shrinking Tea Party

[ProSense]

The Incredible Shrinking Tea Party

By Greg Sargent

If there’s one thing the debt ceiling battle revealed, it’s that the Tea Party continues to enjoy outsized influence in Washington in general and over the GOP in particular.

So it’s interesting to note that according to the internals of today’s New York Times poll, the Tea Party is rapidly shrinking before our very eyes, and is hemorraging supporters at a surprising rate:

Do you consider yourself to be a supporter of the Tea Party movement, or not?

Yes 18

No 73

The 18 percent who self-identify as Tea Party supporters is at its lowest point, tying the 18 percent who supported it way back in April of 2010, when it was first gaining steam as the Congressional races of last cycle began heating up. The trajectory is interesting: The Times poll shows the Tea Party has had some ups and downs, but it steadily gained supporters as the 2010 campaigns wore on, and peaked with 31 percent of the electorate saying they supported the movement at around the time that the GOP won its massive 2010 victory.

Then its support began to decline, and it then dropped a precipitous eight points from June until today — a period that roughly coincided with the debt ceiling debate, which showcased Tea Party intransigence and self-delusion at its finest. Not only that, but right now, the 73 percent who say they are not supporters is at its highest point ever.

What’s more, as Steve Benen notes, the numbers who disaprove of the Tea Party and who think it has too much influence over the GOP are running as high as ever.

more

Evidently, Americans got a taste of crazy and didn't care for it.

As for House Republicans catering to crazy, Boehner's disapproval shot up 16 points since April, NYT

<...>

The president’s overall job approval rating remained relatively stable, with 48 percent approving of the way he handles his job as president and 47 percent disapproving — down from the bump up in the polls he received in the spring after the killing of Osama bin Laden, but in line with how he has been viewed for nearly a year. By contrast, Speaker John A. Boehner, an Ohio Republican, saw his disapproval rating shoot up 16 points since April: 57 percent of those polled now disapprove of the way he is handling his job, while only 30 percent approve.

<...>

[flamingdem]

1. Rev. Al about to cover this on MSNBC nt

[ProSense]

2. Do you know

why this is bad news?

[CakeGrrl]

4. Because it's a positive side benefit of the debt ceiling battle?

Because that was supposed to be nothing but a cave-fest from the weakest Capitulator-in-Chief ever to occupy the White House.

It can't be that anything GOOD came out of it benefitting Democrats.

[flamingdem]

5. Answer part II: This means they can say they've "cleaned up" the Republican

Party right around election time next year as people renounce the Teaparty ...

Just guessing.

[TheCowsCameHome]

10. Yeah, an industrial strength enema would do all of them good.

[Kind of Blue]

11. I don't know if they'll be able to quit them.

Unless more Republicans come out like Gov. Christy did yesterday saying he's tired of the crazies. I think they're still going to use them as mouth pieces, perhaps not to make policy, but definitely for their leaders to hide behind.

[flamingdem]

3. One thing that comes to mind is that the numbers are unimportant

what it might indicate is that Citizens United / Koch and friends are really calling the shots and the teaparty was cover.

But I'm not sure what you mean.

[ProSense]

6. Actually,

"what it might indicate is that Citizens United / Koch and friends are really calling the shots and the teaparty was cover."

...it's the other way around: they are calling the shots and used teabaggers as cover (a way to claim that x number of Americans agree with them).

[Fire1]

9. Exactly!! n/t

[yourout]

7. Even one...is to many.

[Fire1]

8. That percentage may be a little higher cause they left

some members behind here at DU.

[polichick]

12. And yet they run both houses of Congress and the WH.

[Peacetrain]

13. Hopefully it will be shrunk into oblivion!

[craigmatic]

14. They're victims of their own success. They got power but many of their supporters who are old, white

and on government healthcare have gotten scared of losing their benefits. The debt ceiling and the credit downgrade are going to obliterate the republicans and tea party at the polls. It's almost over now folks.

[Dad Infinitum]

15. The tea party was never was much more than a husk

A facade. A Caricature.

[tanyev]

16. I think the biggest problem is their outsized influence of the media.