The reign of the Tea Party may be coming to an end in Washington, according to academic political experts who say polls show a backlash against the conservative movement. Two national polls released this month by CNN and The New York Times in conjunction with CBS News showed the Tea Party’s unfavorable rating at an all-time high.
Political scientists say the data shows a backlash of independent voters against conservative lawmakers who have taken a hard line against bipartisan compromise in Washington.
These experts say independent voters who make up the swing bloc of the electorate typically pay less attention to politics than staunch Republican and Democratic voters.
The contentious debate in Congress over the debt limit gave the Tea Party new prominence to many of these casual observers of Washington.
And many independents were not happy with what they saw over the last several weeks: a contentious debate in which conservatives threatened to force a national default; the failure of President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) to reach a grand bargain to reduce the deficit; a sharp rebuke of the political system by Standard & Poor’s causing havoc on Wall Street.
They note Obama’s public approval also dipped but observe public opinion of the Tea Party has fallen faster.
The CNN poll showed the Tea Party’s favorable/unfavorable rating grew from 37 percent in October of 2010 to 51 percent in August 2011.
