An August 11 Rasmussen poll found that people support bringing American troops home from Afghanistan as soon as possible by a 2 to 1 margin.
An August 10 Gallup poll found that the strongest Tea Party supporters are white, over age 55, and live in the South.
An August 10 Washington Post poll found that confidence in Republicans in Congress has fallen to 18 percent from 35 percent in January. Confidence in President Obama has fallen from 43 percent to 33 percent.
An August 9 Pew poll found declining support for members of Congress who support the Tea Party.
In an August 8 commentary, Brookings Institution political scientist Darrell West discussed some of the institutional reasons why Congress had enormous difficulty raising the debt limit.
An August 9 CNN/ORC poll found that the unfavorable opinion of the Tea Party has doubled from 26 percent in January 2010 to 51 percent today. The poll also found that 49 percent of people do not believe their own congressman deserves reelection, the highest percentage ever recorded.
An August 8 Rasmussen poll found that 29 percent of people believe that Tea Party members are economic terrorists; 55 percent do not.
An August 8 YouGov poll found that the bulk of Republicans are Tea Party members or supporters. Virtually of those who aren’t say it’s because they don’t know much about the Tea Party. Only 5 percent of Republicans say they oppose it.
An August 7 Rasmussen poll found that only 17 percent of people believe the federal government has the consent of the governed.
An August 4 New York Times/CBS News poll found that the percentage of people who believe the Tea Party has too much influence over the Republican Party has risen from 14 percent in February 2010 to 43 percent today. Also, the percentage of people saying they do not support the Tea Party has risen from 54 percent to 73 percent over the last year.
I last posted items on this topic on August 4.
Bruce Bartlett is an American historian and columnist who focuses on the intersection between politics and economics. He blogs daily and writes a weekly column The Fiscal Times. Bartlett has written for Forbes Magazine and Creators Syndicate, and his work is informed by many years in government, including as a senior policy analyst in the Reagan White House. He is the author of seven books including the New York Times best-seller, Imposter: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy (Doubleday, 2006).
