Carrie Dann writes: For the second time this month, the NBC/WSJ poll results show that the Tea Party has a net negative rating. In the latest poll released today, 36 percent of respondents said they have a somewhat or very negative opinion of the movement, compared with 28 percent who said they view it positively. Thats the highest negative rating for the nebulous political movement since pollsters began asking respondents opinion of it in January 2010. (Although its worth noting that the negative ratings for the Democratic and Republican parties at 43 percent apiece are still worse.) The NBC/WSJ poll surveyed respondents in the field from August 26-30 the height of news coverage of FOX News host Glenn Becks controversial Restoring Honor rally, which attracted scores of Tea Party adherents to Washington D.C.
We wrote last month that likely voters who say they are interested in supporting the Tea Party tend to be conservative Republicans, although there are some highly disaffected Democrats and Independents who also identify with the group.
The 85 percent of respondents who said theyve heard of the Tea Party, however, are split - mostly along party lines - about how exactly to classify it. About 40 percent said that the Tea Party is a separate and independent group that is not part of the Republican party; the same share of respondents said that the Tea Party is part of the GOP.
(A deeper dig into the poll's data shows that those perceptions are highly linked to party ID. Sixty-five percent of Democrats said they view the Tea Party as a wing of the GOP, while just 35 percent of self-identified Republicans said the same.)
You can view the full poll results (.pdf) here.